Astro I: The Dilemma of Astro Tenma
by Astro Tenma
Summary: This story starts by retelling the story of the 2009 movie strictly from Astro's point of view. Ch 10 begins my own continuation.
1. Chapter 1: Toby the Boy

Toby sat idly at his school desk as the video at the front of the class played on about how wonderful Metro City was. Robots did make life pretty simple, doing the mundane jobs so that people could work on more important stuff, but why did the government feel it necessary to advertise the fact? It smelled of propaganda.

"Hey Toby. Isn't that your dad?" It was the student who sat in front of him.

Toby checked the video as the narrator said, "... Doctor Tenma, head of the Ministry of Science, and father of modern robotics. Thanks to him, and the incredible innovations ..."

His brilliant dad. "It sure is," he answered softly.

Moustachio heard anyway. "Hush!" he hissed as the video finished and the lights came up. Stepping forward, he said "Okay, students, ready for a pop quiz?"

The first question appeared on the students' individual displays, and Toby glanced around as many of the other students expressed their shock.

"Begin," said the teacher.

Toby checked his display. This had better not take too long; he had an appointment.

"I am so busted," exclaimed a girl off to one side.

Toby smiled smugly and started to rapidly fill in answers. A couple of minutes later, he put up his hand.

"Yes, Toby?" asked Moustachio, looking up from his reading. "Is there a problem?"

Toby pulled the recorder out of its slot in his desk and started forward. "There's no problem. I'm just finished, and I'd like to leave."

The teacher gasped. "Finished?"

"What?" said a startled student.

"For rocket science," Toby said as he handed the recorder to Moustachio, "it wasn't exactly rocket science."

"Well," answered the teacher, "I don't suppose there's much point in you staying." He looked up, but Toby was already at the door.

"Good luck, guys," he called out as he pushed through the door. He heard a book hit behind him as the door closed, but he just smirked and headed to his locker. After all, _he_ was going to the symposium on quantum mechanics at the university. He triggered the pager in his pocket to alert his father to come and pick him up.

* * *

"Hello, Master Toby," said O_rrin, the family robot, cheerily. "Did you have a good day at the ...?"

"Think fast, Arn!" Toby flipped his school satchel up into the air. He enjoyed giving the robot a hard time, even though he knew that it would never get irritated with him.

O_rrin struggled to bring in the satchel. It finally caught it and said, "Thank you, Master Toby. Very good throw, by the way." It got into the driver's seat as Toby settled in the back of the limousine.

He sighed. He had been really looking forward to going to that symposium, and Dad wasn't here. What's his excuse this time?

Dr. Tenma's image flickered into existence at the other end of the bench. "Hello, son."

Toby looked over. "Hello, sir." Might as well play along until Dad got around to explaining himself.

"How was school?"

"Oh, great! Moustachio dropped a pop quiz on us, but I'm pretty sure I got a hundred percent."

"That's good, son, very good; but, I don't want you to become complacent. It's important to keep studying. Onward and upward, Toby!"

Toby turned away and looked at the floor. "Sure, Dad." What about the symposium?

Tenma cleared his throat, plainly uncomfortable. "I'm aware I said that I'd take you to that symposium on quantum mechanics, but I'm afraid I have to take a rain cheque again."

"But you promised!"

"I'm sorry, Toby," he said sternly, "but it's unavoidable. President Stone has brought forward the unveiling of the Peacekeeper."

"The Peacekeeper?" Now that was an excuse he could understand. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"I never kid. Good-bye, son." He pushed an unseen button and his image flickered out.

"The Peacekeeper, huh." Okay! This sounded way better than that symposium! "Hey Arn," he said as he hopped over behind the driver's seat. "Change of plan: take me to the Ministry of Science."

"I'm sorry, Master Toby, but your father gave me strict instructions to ... " It noticed that Toby had entered the control centre in its back. "Stop that! What are you doing back there? Hey! Hey!" Toby gave a final push, and O_rrin straightened up. "Next stop, Ministry of Science!"

The car wove dangerously through the traffic as it turned around and headed in the opposite direction.

Toby watched smugly as the tall Ministry building loomed closer. He dreamed of the day when he could share in his father's work. He had the stuff; all he needed was the education—and he was working hard on that. He had wanted to take in the quantum mechanics symposium because his father was using quantum devices in his latest creations, and he really wanted to understand how those things worked. The Peacekeeper itself was loaded with them.

The Peacekeeper ... the herald of adaptive technology, his father had said, but he had been able to say little else of substance about this top-secret military robot, and Toby was itching to see it.

* * *

To Toby's annoyance, O_rrin refused to stay with the car, so he found himself shepherding an apparently drunk robot through the corridors of the Ministry. The staff was familiar with the boss's son, so nobody asked him any awkward questions as he worked his way up to the main laboratory. He was able, however, to find out that his father was headed toward the lecture theatre first.

He soon spotted a column of soldiers, and figured that his father was probably up ahead of them with the president. Then he heard him speaking.

"Dr. Elefun is an esteemed colleague of mine, Mr. President. He may be resistant to having his discovery used for military purposes."

The resonant voice of the president responded, "Well, you leave Dr. Elefun to me."

Toby could see that he would need some help catching up, so he called out, "Dad!"

Everybody did stop, but one of the soldiers ordered, "Hold it right there," and grabbed him firmly.

"What are you doing here?" demanded his startled father. "I gave O_rrin specific instructions to ..."

O_rrin was blindly bumping into a corridor wall near by.

"I wanted to see the demonstration," Toby pleaded. "You're always talking about the Peacekeeper."

"Really, Toby," Tenma said.

"Your boy?" President Stone asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, let him tag along," he said indulgently. "It'll be good for him. Educational."

"Yes, sir."

The soldier holding Toby let him go, and he immediately joined his father at the front of the line.

The president looked down at the boy. "So you're interested in robots, son. Robot weapons?"

"Absolutely, though I'm sure you'll agree the latest D-class interceptor on-the-line deployment-to-target system is quite old-fashioned." This purchase by the military had bothered him ever since he had heard of it.

Stone scowled, then said, "Take this boy to a safe place and keep him there."

Toby, startled as a soldier took hold of him by the shoulders, appealed to his father, who answered, "I think it's for the best, Toby."

That wasn't good enough. "But you said I could see the Peacekeeper!"

The president settled the matter. "You still can, on tonight's news with everybody else."

Toby was disgusted, but he was trapped for the moment, and found himself being led back down the corridor. They stopped in front of a utility closet, and he saw his chance. "This is so unfair!" he said as the soldier triggered the door.

The soldier gave him a firm shove in and said, "Cool off, hot shot!"

Toby was prepared for this. He dashed back to the soldier. "Please don't leave me in here, sir! I can't stand small places! Anywhere but here!" He discretely pocketed the ID card that he had snatched from its slot on the soldier's belt.

The soldier pushed him back in and said, "Geez, kid, you're like thirteen years old. It's time you grew a backbone."

Toby watched the door close, then said, "Thanks for the life lesson. And thank you for this." He held up the soldier's card with a smirk. No mere grunt was going to keep Toby Tenma from seeing the Peacekeeper.

He waited for a couple of minutes to give the soldier time to slack off, then opened the door. Sure enough, the soldier had his back to his prisoner and was bragging to some woman.

"Onward and upward, Toby," he muttered in imitation of his father, and happily headed the other way.

* * *

As the big lab door opened, Toby heard, "Activate weapon drones!" and watched in awe as dozens of small flying robots poured out and attacked an immense robot—the Peacekeeper at last—in the centre of the lab floor. He couldn't get a clear view from where he stood, so, sneaking behind the soldiers, who were all watching the demonstration, he headed stealthily toward the other side of the lab.

Suddenly, one of the drones attached itself to the chest of the Peacekeeper and started to fire on the other drones.

President Stone noticed as well. "It's using that drone against the other drones. How's that possible?"

Tenma replied, "It's called adaptive technology: It can absorb and control anything."

Toby stared—so that was the adaptive technology! He watched for his chance, and took up station at the far side of the laboratory.

"Well," said Stone, "I may have flunked out of college, but I was right about the red core! You scientists think you're the only ones with the brains."

Toby glanced over at his father. What was this about a red core? He had never heard of it.

An apparent stray shot from the Peacekeeper crashed into the wall behind the president, scaring General Heckler, the president's aide. The Peacekeeper then turned and looked at the assembled people.

"Uh, sir ..." muttered Heckler anxiously to President Stone.

The giant robot broke into a loping run, bearing down on them threateningly. Tenma promptly hit the 'emergency door' switch, and a great transparent plate dropped from the ceiling in time to abruptly stop the Peacekeeper. However, smoke around its edge showed that the impact had done damage.

Toby turned to run, but found his escape route cut off. In a panic, he called out, "Dad!" and started to pound on the door.

Tenma quickly spotted him and shouted, "Toby!" He thumped on the switch plate, but it just reported the error condition. Toby kept calling, but his father could only shout, "I can't open it! I can't open it!"

Tenma finally rushed over to where his son was, and Toby again screamed, "Dad! Help!"

"It's going to be okay, Toby!" his father said. "I'm going to get you out. Everything's going to be fine. I promise!"

Toby swallowed. He could tell by his father's expression that everything was _not _fine—he was just desperately trying to make his son feel better.

The Peacekeeper began to power something up, there was a blinding flash, and Toby vanished.


	2. Chapter 2: Toby the Robot

{Initialize(all)} {Verify systems(all)} {Complete} {Boot(centre)}

Huh?

{Complete}

What's going on?

{Enable(motive power)} {Complete} {Verify systems(right hand)}

I'm on a floor somewhere. I felt it.

{Complete} {Verify systems(right arm)} {Complete}

What's this about systems? Where am I? Why can't I see? What's happening to me?

{Confirm(verify systems(sense))} {Complete} {Initiate(vision)} {Complete}

Vision? Does that mean I can see now?

He lifted his head and tried to look around. It was all blurry.

{Error(vision)} {Reinitialize(focus)} {Complete}

Shapes swam into view and resolved into two people. They looked familiar ... Oh yeah.

{Start(speech)} {Complete} {Start(hearing)} {Complete}

"Dad?"

"Toby."

? I am 'Toby.'

He stumbled to his feet, turned to Dad, and staggered.

{Error(balance)} {Error(left leg)} {Reinitialize(motive power)} {Complete}

He remembered what 'Dad' actually meant. "Dad," he exclaimed happily and collapsed into his father's waiting arms.

Tenma embraced him warmly and said, "Welcome back, Son. Thank you, Elefun. I'm going to take it ... _him _... home now." He put Toby out at arm's length. "Quality time; bonding." He embraced Toby again and stood up. "All the good things."

Toby was still dealing with all the error messages that were going on, but he recognized the other man. "'Bye, Doctor Elefun."

Elefun, startled, waved at him. "'Bye, Toby."

The great laboratory doors shut behind them with a boom.

* * *

Toby opened his eyes to the morning sun, then, noticing something at the foot of his bed, he sat up and recognized his father. "Dad?" What was he doing here?

Tenma awoke immediately. "Ah, good morning, son," he said, straightening up. "How do you feel?"

Toby thought, but what he recalled didn't make much sense. "Kind of weird." A possibility popped into his mind. "Have I been sick or something?"

His father moved closer. "No," he said. "You're fine, Toby; you're perfect; you're wonderful."

Relieved, Toby said, "Oh, that's good, because ... " He was cut off by his father's uncharacteristically emotional hug. After an awkward moment of wondering what his father was doing, he asked, "Umm, are _you _okay?"

* * *

O_rrin screamed and backed away from Toby anxiously, then bumped into the kitchen table. "No! I must be malfunctioning. Wires crossing—shortcircuiting. It can't be _you._"

Toby stared: what was O_rrin going on about?

It pointed at him. "You're ..." It seemed to figure something out. "Oh, my gosh! You're ... you're ..."

"Hey, Arn," Toby said. "Are you okay?"

"You're ... going to be late for school." It laughed nervously and turned away.

That was a pretty weird thing for the robot to say, Toby thought, as his father came up and stood by one of the chairs.

O_rrin looked at him again. "Well, I must say, it's ... it's very nice to see you again."

Again? I've been away? Toby watched it head for the other side of the room. Okay, he might not have been sick, but for sure something had happened to him to make O_rrin speak and act so strangely.

His father turned the chair and said, "Sit down, Toby. I want to talk to you."

"Sure, Dad." He sat.

"It's about school." He took his usual seat. "I've decided you shouldn't go any more, son. I'm going to teach you at home, myself."

Toby smiled. "Sounds good to me." He turned to O_rrin who was returning with a tray of food. "Hey, O_rrin," he said happily. "Looks like we're going to be hanging out together."

O_rrin got very agitated. "Together?" it exclaimed. Apparently the thought of having a mischievous Toby around full time didn't fill it with with joy. "Oh, well, that'll be ... very _nice_, Master Toby." The tray it was holding shook as it attempted to slip the plates of food onto the table, and they bumped into Tenma's drink, spilling it. "Oh dear," it said miserably.

Tenma gruffly said, "Please, Toby, just let the robot do it's thing."

Toby put his fork on his plate as O_rrin began to clean up, and said, "Sorry." There was a definite tension in the air here, and both his father and O_rrin were keeping something from him. But it couldn't be a bad thing, right? This was his father, after all. He looked back up. "If you're going to be home-schooling me, what about your job at the Ministry?"

"My job now is to be your father."

Good old Dad. Toby turned his attention to the food.

* * *

Tenma waved a hand over the desk, and a screen appeared with mathematical equations floating about on it. "Let's start you out with something familiar," he said, and pointed at the display. "Four-dimensional calculus. It's your favourite."

Toby looked at his father doubtfully. He didn't feel very interested in math, but his father seemed to think he should be. "I guess it is," he said, then turned his attention to the equations. He touched the display, and mathematical functions and diagrams appeared and responded to him. Hey, it was easy enough.

As the calculus took form, Tenma said, "Excellent."

Toby could feel the numbers flowing, and he stood up to reach equations that were higher. Some diagrams made connections as he worked. He could almost do this in his sleep, but his 'favourite'?

"Interesting solution," said his father approvingly. When Toby wrapped up his work, he applauded and said, "Bravo, wonderful; excellent, Toby; first rate, son, first rate."

Basking in the praise, Toby decided to try something he did like. "You ain't seen nothing yet!" he said and dismissed the math with a sweep of his hand. A brace bracket and two axes formed a bow, and an arrow appeared. It fired, picked up some bits of diagrams, and hit the rear end of the figure of a cowboy made of math diagrams. It yelped and exclaimed, "Howdy," then broke into a nonsense song about geometrical functions. Toby loved it, but one look at his father's disapproving expression dumped cold water on his enthusiasm.

Tenma cleared his throat meaningfully and swept the display into shutdown. "Let's get back to basics," he said.

* * *

Toby watched in shock as his father dropped a large leather-covered book onto the coffee table in the living-room.

"Remember this one?" his father said. "Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason.' I used to read it to you in bed when you were little."

Toby couldn't imagine liking a book like this, but flipped through the pages just to check, then coughed at the dust he stirred up. Perplexed, he looked at his father and tried to crack a joke. "To put me to sleep?"

"Yes!" Tenma replied with forced enthusiasm, missing the point. "You asked for it every night."

What? This? No way! "That's not quite what I ..."

His father patted a pile of three other tomes. "Just try rereading these," he said. "Get the old brain humming again." He stood up, crossed the room to the door, then turned and gave the watching Toby an encouraging thumbs-up before leaving.

Toby chuckled nervously and gave two thumbs-up back, but there it was: his father was hiding something seriously big. After all, why would his brain need to get 'humming _again_'? ... unless it had stopped?

Quickly dismissing that crazy notion, he closed the book in front of him: heavy reading really didn't appeal to him. Not even bothering to open the next one, he pulled Leonardo da Vinci's 'Complete Works' off the stack. It seemed to have possibilities, so he flipped it open. His eyes fell on the chapter title, 'War Machines,' but he didn't like the look of that and turned the page. It fell open to 'Flight,' full of diagrams of rather crude flying machines. Bingo.

* * *

It was mid-afternoon, and O_rrin was having a delightful time propelling the crude helicopters that Toby had constructed, using a fan attachment that replaced one of its hands. It chased a couple of the toys and got them spinning upward again. "Ah, beautiful," it exclaimed, then saved another one.

Toby had never felt so happy. Whipping off his Ministry of Science cap, he slapped it on the robot's head and exclaimed, "Way to go, Arn! You're the man."

The robot checked what was on its head, as if doubting Toby's new sincerity, then, as it chased another helicopter, said, "I haven't had this much fun since, well, ever."

Toby held up a three-winged airplane model and said proudly, "Check this out!" He jumped up onto the pile of big books and launched it. It flew around the room, nudging many of the helicopters and giving them more spin.

O_rrin watched it, then said, "I'm impressed; not knocked out, but impressed."

"That's nothing," Toby exclaimed as he sat down on the books and pointed at the airplane. "Watch this!" The plane split in three, and the three craft spread out and spun even more of the helicopters.

O_rrin applauded. "Oh! Now _that_ is _impressive_, Master Toby!"

Toby, delighted with the praise, punched the robot's hand. "Just 'Toby' is fine, Arn." You are not a mere servant; you are my friend.

O_rrin smiled at the unexpected compliment, then watched with Toby in horror as the little planes began to knock over nick-knacks around the room.

At that moment, Tenma entered the room. He dodged one of the airplanes, then got hit in the head by another coming the other way. He swatted a couple of helicopters out of his way, then glanced at the mess on the coffee table. "What are you doing?" he snapped. "I said to read these books, not destroy them."

Toby cringed. Yes, he had cannibalized several books to make the aircraft models, but there wasn't any craft material around the condo, and he had never felt so creative. Trying to put a positive spin on his mistake, he said, "I-I just wanted to test da Vinci's theories."

O_rrin approached its master and said apologetically, "I perhaps encouraged Master Toby, sir."

Toby watched helplessly as the robot deflected the blame onto itself. It shouldn't have to do that.

Tenma stepped toward O_rrin grimly and said, "You should not be wearing that hat. A robot should not be wearing my son's ... Toby's hat."

O_rrin sadly removed it, handed it submissively to Tenma, then withdrew.

Toby had no idea why his father was being so harsh, but he had to say something to try and take the heat off the robot. "Dad, it's fine. I don't even like the hat."

His father winced. "I think you should go to your room," he said softly without looking at his son.

Banishment? Where did that come from? What have I done wrong? "But, Dad ..."

"Do as you're told," he snapped.

Toby gasped like he'd been slapped, then fled.


	3. Chapter 3: Not Who He Thinks He Is

Toby flopped onto his bed and put his hand behind his head. He felt ashamed, dirty.

Rolling over, he grabbed a picture off of the shelf behind him and sat up. Letting a deep sigh escape, he looked at the image of his father standing proudly behind him after he had received the 'Astrophysics level L1' prize for his science project the previous year.

"What's different?" he asked himself. "I've never seen Dad angry before." His eyes closed against the surge of sadness as his hero became unaccountably tarnished.

The electronic sound of robot communication rippled in the background unnoticed as two window-cleaning robots did their job outside. Suddenly, one of them laughed. "Check out the haircut on that one! It looks like he's got horns."

"Horns?" said the other. "Good one!"

Toby was in no mood for this. "What do you mean, 'horns'? It's gel." Then it hit him, and he scrambled to his knees and cleaned his ear. "I can understand you?" he asked, his other problems shoved aside for the moment. Did this have something to do with what his father and O_rrin were hiding from him? He had to find out.

"Whoa, that's creepy," said the second one, the Mr. Squeegee.

The Mr. Squirt asked, "What is?"

"It's like he can understand us."

Mr. Squirt laughed. "Don't be a dummy!"

Toby leaned forward and said, "I can hear what you're saying." This was too weird.

"It's as if he can hear what we're saying," echoed Mr. Squeegee.

"There's no way. He's a human," said Mr. Squirt and sprayed the window. "Come on, let's go leak oil on some statues."

"Okee-dokee," Mr. Squeegee said and wiped the window. The two robots cried out in surprise when that revealed Toby staring at them.

He threw open the window. "How can I understand what you're saying? You're robots." Please, help me.

Mr. Squirt said, "We don't want any trouble."

Toby grabbed it, and, as it struggled to escape, he said, "Wait up. I just want to know what's going on. What's happened to me?" Suddenly he noticed that something besides himself had changed: he was suspended in mid-air between the window ledge and Mr. Squirt. The ground was ... a long way down. "Okay, guys," he pleaded. "Let's back up, very carefully."

Mr. Squirt, as if angry, sprayed Toby in the face. Startled, Toby let go and immediately plummeted head first toward the ground.

Mr. Squirt exclaimed, "Oh, no," and the two robots shot down after the falling boy. "Hang on, buddy! We're coming, we're coming!"

As the ground grew closer, Toby covered his eyes against his looming death.

{Verify(orientation)} went something in the back of his mind. {Complete} {Return(error)} {Reinitialize(orientation)} {Complete} {Start(ignition)} {Verify(ignition)} {Confirmed}

When Mr. Squirt exclaimed, "That's too freaky for me," a shaken Toby cautiously removed his hands and looked down: he was upright and hovering on two jets of flame coming from his feet. This cannot be happening! Maybe I'm dreaming. He slapped his face to wake himself up, but that merely knocked him into a bit of a spin: He was awake.

He struggled to control this new ability, but found it a challenge, as he bobbed and flipped a couple of times before being driven firmly into a wall.

{Verify(height)} {Confirmed} {Return(error)} {Start(Ignition)}

Toby thought he knew where this was going. He only had time to say, "Oh-oh," before he was fired straight up through the railway trellis above him, narrowly ahead of a train.

He soared high into the air, then tumbled wildly across a plaza as he tried desperately to gain control. Crashing up through an elevated highway, he tumbled into a tunnel, where he narrowly missed all of the oncoming traffic. Finally he escaped through the tunnel roof, only to end up on another track with a train bearing down on him.

In a panic, he started to run, and was amazed to find that he was keeping ahead of the train, barely. But he could fly, so he leaped out of its path and hovered above, watching it disappear down the track. Then it hit him: I can fly! I can run super-fast! I can hear robots talk! I can crash into walls and not get hurt! No way! I've got super-powers!

He shot into the sky high above Metro City and gazed out in wonder across the tops of the clouds coloured by the late afternoon sun. This was way, way better than reading dusty old books at home!

He swooped high, then dove into the cloud deck below. Shooting back up, he twirled and spun through the foggy masses, then exulted as he wove back and forth among the clouds. When he noticed that evening was falling, he ducked down below the clouds, then rocketed high above them and dropped toward the looming form of Mount Sophia. Wondering if he also had super-strength, he decided to experiment. Launching himself at the side of the mountain, he crashed into it and feverishly dug into and up through the rock. He popped out of the top in an explosion of snow, and hovered in the chill air.

"This is so cool," he exclaimed. All of a sudden, it didn't matter how he had become like this: It was only the greatest thing in the world! "I've got to show Dad!" With a burst of his rocket feet, he swooped toward home.

As he neared his place, he could overhear Dr. Elefun saying, "I got here as fast as I could. Where is he? Where's Toby?" (Super-hearing too?)

His father was standing in the living-room. "I sent him to his room. Please, just deactivate him and take him away."

'Deactivate'? Toby felt a chill as he touched down on the balcony. You only used that word for ... He didn't want to go there.

But Tenma wasn't finished. He said, "I can't bear to see his face again."

Toby felt like he'd been punched in the stomach: His father, the hero of his life, hated him. How come? What had he done wrong? This wouldn't be about what he'd done to those books, could it? He approached the door.

"Come on, Tenma," Elefun said."You can't just throw him away like a piece of junk."

"Dad, what's going on?" Toby entered the room. "Why are you talking about me like this?"

His father pointedly turned away—something he had never done before—while Elefun came up to the boy. "Toby, there's been a bit of a misunderstanding. You're not actually an entirely ordinary boy."

Toby brightened. Maybe Dad would hear this. "I know." He approached his father. "Dad, I can fly, I can drill my way through solid rock! It's amazing!"

Unexpectedly, Tenma was not pleased. In an agonized voice, he said, "How did I think that this could work?"

That tore Toby up. Did it have something to do with what had happened to him? "What's wrong with me?" Desperately he took hold of his father's arm. "Why don't you love me any more?"

Tenma pulled away, and Elefun said, "He's programmed with the memories of your own son, Tenma!"

Toby looked at Elefun. "Programmed?" No. That's not right.

Elefun kept going. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Tenma sighed. "But he isn't my son."

Toby felt sick. How could his father turn on him so completely? "Dad."

"I'm not your dad. You're not Toby. You're a copy of Toby." The litany of horror would not end. "You're not my son: a robot." Tenma finally turned to him, but only to deliver the sentence of death. "And I ... don't want you any more."

A black chasm yawned in front of Toby: He was being thrown out like yesterday's garbage. "No! No!" He turned to the door he had entered moments before: he had to get away. He, Toby, had to figure this out. He wasn't a robot! He was a boy—a boy with super-powers, but still a boy.

"Toby, wait!" Elefun called to him. Toby stopped, but the turmoil in his heart was tearing him to pieces. "I can't look into the future," the old scientist went on, "but I'm sure there's a place for you. You just have to find it."

Toby turned to him. "He's my father; this is my home. It's all I know!" Please! Explain it to him!

"Everyone has their destiny."

No! Talk to Dad! "Didn't you hear him? I'm not Toby." He ran out onto the balcony and shot off into the darkness, wanting to cry, needing to cry, to scream, to do anything to make it stop.

He settled on the buttress of a tall building in the downtown core of Metro City and rested his head on his arms, letting the night cover him like a blanket.

If he wasn't Toby Tenma, he was nothing. A robot? That was just a ... thing. How could it be? He could remember—programmed memories? Was that even possible?

A test. Yes, he could confirm that he wasn't a robot very easily. He switched on his super-vision and examined his hands.

No.

It was true: The mechanical hardware inside was obvious. He wanted to die.

The darkness was shattered by several spotlights as military flitters surrounded him. He stood up, shielding his eyes against the glare, hearing easily the pilot of one of them.

"Sir, we've locate the signal's source, but it's a child! Readings for the core are off the chart." There was a pause, then the soldier went on, "This is Stinger One. Set weapons for capture." Equipment in the bases of the flitters clicked into place.

Toby gasped. What are you doing, Dad? Aren't you even going to allow me to run away? He shot up into the sky, fleeing into the centre of the city, hoping to lose his pursuers in the maze of roads, walkways, and buildings. He swooped, doubled back, dove down, but couldn't shake the flitters. They must have had some way of tracking him. What did they want? Did Dad call for this to get rid of him?

If he couldn't shake them, he would have to fight them—but no violence against the soldiers. This was between him and Dad. He did a tight turn around a building and came up under a flitter. Grabbing the muzzle of its weapon, he bent it straight up, making it useless. He jumped to the next one and did the same. Getting off that one, he glanced around for another, only to become an unexpected ornament on the front window of a third. Before he could react, a flitter behind him caught him with its binder cord and pulled him away. Within seconds, he was trussed up by half a dozen cords.

"We've got him; we're coming home," reported Stinger One.

Toby looked around. Home was where he didn't want to be right now. He rocketed upward, pulling the flitters behind him. Once above the buildings, he dropped again, swooping and cutting, trying to shake off the cords. Finally the flitters were able to pull against him, creating a momentary standoff. He saw a chance, if only he could get to the two towers of a building in front of him. He tried to go, and there was a brief tug-of-war before he finally boosted his power and hauled them into his trap. They jammed between the towers, and he was finally able to snap the cords.

Suddenly one of the flitters broke up, and the pilot plummeted toward the ground.

Toby wasn't about to let the man die, and dove down to rescue him. Dropping him off on a nearby roof, he told him, "You're safe."

Seven more flitters appeared, and Toby exclaimed, "Again? What's with you guys?" He leaped into the air to face them. "Come on then!" he challenged, but they inexplicably turned and fled.

He dropped back onto the roof as the rescued pilot ran and hid, and became aware of a shadow behind him. Turning, he faced an immense ship which loomed over him threateningly. Now you're going to destroy me, Dad? He attempted to run, but its first shot threw him onto the next roof. Stunned, he tried to fly, but missiles blew him several buildings further over. Struggling to his feet, he watched helplessly as the ship threw everything it had at him.

He couldn't believe it: all this for a boy who was nothing but a stupid robot. At the last instant, he wondered if he was super-durable.


	4. Chapter 4: What's in a Name?

{Verify systems(all)} {Complete} {Boot(centre)} {Complete}

Toby groaned and pushed himself up. How long had he been out? It had been about midnight the last he remembered, and now it was daylight.

{User request(time)} {Return(2:43 pm)} {Complete} Ouch.

The first thing that met his eyes was the damaged head of a derelict robot. It looked so ugly that he cried out in shock.

As he got to his feet, it came to life. "Welcome to your new home, kid," it said.

Startled, Toby stumbled and fell backward beside another robot that gave him a cheerful hello.

Zombies! He was in a graveyard, and the corpses were talking to him! He scrambled to his feet and backed away. Suddenly he heard rustling all around him, and numerous 'zombies' started to work their way toward him, begging for power, any power.

"You're one of us now," said the talking head. "Happy to meet you."

Toby put up his hands defensively. "Oh no, I'm not one of you guys."

"You're a robot, ain't ya?"

Oh right; the ugly truth. "Uh yes, but I'm ..."

"Well, welcome to the scrap heap. This is where we all end up sooner or later."

Toby's anger pushed out the fear. "No way! I'm not ready yet." A robot put its hand on his shoulder, and he jerked away. "Hey, get off of me!" Another grabbed his arm and he pulled it back, ripping the robot's arm off.

Suddenly the head yelled, "Incoming!" and a load of scrap parts crashed down on them.

Toby was knocked flying by a large chunk, and tumbled and rolled down the slope, coming to an abrupt stop at the bottom. He stumbled to his feet and looked around at the surreal piles of robot bits that lay as far as he could see. Clutching his left shoulder, which was not feeling right at all, he sighed. Yes, he had survived that attack in Metro City with only minor damage, but now where was he? Thrown away, like everything he could see around him.

"What do I do?" he moaned, then sat down and gazed up at the floating island that had been his home until last night. Up there he had been Toby Tenma, son of the head of the Ministry of Science, with a brilliant career ahead of him in robot weaponry (ugh). Here, he was another derelict robot with no purpose in life but survival.

And when had he become a robot? It must have been two days ago, when all this craziness began. That's all?

A noise to one side got his attention and he stood up, alert to danger. Something peeked out at him from under some sheet metal, and he asked, "Who's there?" A small robot popped up and barked at him. Relieved at not being attacked, he welcomed it when it charged over to him enthusiastically and bowled him over. He took hold of it to try and settle it down, then read a label. "Trashcan. Are you lost, Trashcan?" That brought back to him who and where he was, and he sighed. "I know I sure am."

Trashcan backed away and started to bark vigorously.

"What is it, boy?" Aroused by the robot's urgency, he stood up, and it barked again. "Someone's in trouble? Oh no!" Trashcan tore off, and Toby followed as best as he could over the irregular ground, calling, "Trashcan, wait up!"

He pulled up just in time at the lip of a very deep hole. "Whoa! Is this ...? Hello? It could be hundreds of metres down." He turned toward Trashcan and said, "The hole looks pretty ..." But Trashcan dove into him, knocking him into the hole, where he was caught in a net that grabbed him and threw him back up onto the ground, trapped and feeling like an idiot.

He heard hurried footsteps, and a girl said, "Quick, get the restraints on it."

There was a flurry of activity, and, when he felt the net loosen, he got it away from his face. "Knock it off!" he said to the girl, about sixteen and wearing a hoodie.

She pushed her hood back, surprised, and said, "That's not a robot."

A boy of about nine or ten said, "It's a kid!"

Toby realized that they must have been hunting for robots, and that it would be a good idea to keep quiet about being one himself until he knew what they wanted them for. "That-that's right. I'm a kid." He glanced at the four faces now staring at him. "Like you." Why was it suddenly so hard to lie?

The older boy turned to Trashcan and grabbed a wrench that it was holding in its mouth—a treat perhaps?—and said, "We want robots, not kids, you stupid garbage eater."

The older girl looked at him suspiciously. "So where are you from, non-robot?"

"I'm from Metro City."

"Metro City?" The girl stood up excitedly. "Can you believe it, guys? He's from Metro City, and he's actually talking to me!"

Toby stared at her, startled. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh my gosh!" she said to the older boy, who looked at her quizzically. "He talked to me twice! This is definitely going in my diary as the most exciting ..." She glowered at Toby. "... day of my life."

He stood and said, "Okay, I get it. You don't like people from Metro City." This was not the start he had been hoping for.

However, the older boy got all dreamy-eyed. "Metro City. Robots waiting on you hand and foot. I'd love to visit, just for one day."

The older girl scoffed. "They wouldn't let you in. They have a strict 'no losers from the surface allowed' policy. Anyway, why would you want to go some place where people think you're garbage?"

That ripped the fresh scab off of Toby's heart.

"I mean, look at this," she went on, lifting a phone out of the mess. "Can you believe someone just threw it away." The older boy reached for it hungrily, but she snatched it out of his reach. "Uh-uh, finders, keepers." She walked away with it, trying to get it to work.

The older boy turned his attention to Toby. "So what are you doing down here?"

Toby shook his head. "I don't know yet. Looking for something, I guess. Somewhere." A home would be a good start.

The younger boy asked, "Did you run away?"

"Not exactly," Toby said, trying to hide his pain. "They sort of suggested that I find a new place." He shrugged. "Whatever that means."

"Dude," said the younger girl, about the same age as the younger boy, "It means they kicked you out."

Toby was rattled by how close to the mark she had come, and didn't know what to say, but the older boy suddenly stepped forward. "I'm Zane."

The younger girl said, "I'm Widget."

The younger boy bumped her aside and said, "Hi, I'm Sludge, and I'm older than her."

Widget pushed him away. "By ninety seconds." Fraternal twins, apparently.

The older girl returned from her evidently fruitless effort with the phone. "And I'm Cora. What's your name?"

Toby relaxed; he'd been accepted—at least as a fake human. "It's ..."

Abruptly he was snatched up and carried rapidly away by several robots shouting "Viva la robotolution!" Startled, he decided to wait and see what sort of threat they posed before he did anything.

After a little, one of the robots crowed happily, "Did you see the humans' faces?" A door opened, and they entered a darkened room. "They were quaking in their capitalist boots."

Toby was dropped into a chair, and a lamp turned on and shone into his face so that he couldn't make out anything in the place.

A rather beat-up old serving robot who had done all the talking so far brought its face into the light. "Don't worry, brother. You're safe."

Another robot, a larger assembly model, turned on the room lights and said, "You have been rescued by ..."

The three robots in the room—the third was an old refrigerator—lined up, saluted, and said, "... the Robot Revolutionary Front!"

The talkative robot said, "I'm Sparx, the brains."

The assembly robot flexed its arms as if showing off. "And I'm Robotsky, the muscle."

The refrigerator said, "And I'm Mike the fridge." It seemed to wilt. "I'm the fridge."

Astro wondered what made these robots tick. After all, how could they function so highly without an owner telling them what to do? How could he, if he was a robot? Anyway, he could see that they were no threat, especially to him, and he cast about for a polite way to get out of there and get back to his new acquaintances. However, Sparx put a hand on his shoulder and said proudly, "You are now liberated! Go ahead, comrade." It urged Toby to stand up. "Take your first step as a free robot."

Mike said, "Take it! Take it!"

Since they were so insistent, he would have to humour them a bit. He stepped forward, but his foot ended up in something wet on the floor.

"Feels different, doesn't it?" Sparx said.

Toby lifted his foot to see what he had put it in. "Well, it feels wetter."

Robotsky shouted, "It feels wetter! Liberation!" and flung an ancient office desk across the room. It moved to high-five with Sparx in its enthusiasm, but the leader wouldn't have it.

"What are you doing?" Sparx demanded.

The big robot seemed to realize that it had gotten out of line. "Sorry," it said. "I'll pick it up."

"Yes, please." Sparx then took an interest in Toby's arm. "You're a rather pretty advanced model, if I might say so, robot. Just out of interest, no particular reason for me asking, but are you exempt from the laws of robotics?"

Laws of what? "Remind me," Toby said. As he pulled his arm away from Sparx's hand, he realized that his shoulder wasn't bothering him any more. What was with that?

Robotsky lifted the desk over its head and quoted, "'A robot cannot harm a human, be the cause of harm to a human,' ..." It put the desk in its place again. "... blah blah blah, boring boring boring."

Toby thought that was simple enough. "I don't really want to harm anybody."

Sparx pounded its fist into its other hand. "Lug nuts!" It moved to the front of the room and began to lecture. "The RRF is dedicated to freeing robot-kind from human slavery by any means necessary."

Mike sidled over to Toby and said, "And he means 'any means necessary'."

"What is your name, comrade?" Sparx asked unexpectedly.

"Um, Toby."

"Toby?" Robotsky said disdainfully.

Sparx wasn't impressed either. "That's not much of a name now; you want something with a bit more oomph to it."

Mike flexed its arms. "Something like The Ice Maker!"

Sparx nodded and made some ninja-like moves. "Or The Annihilator!"

Toby was getting seriously tired of this, and took a step to leave. "I guess I'll ..."

Sparx put its hand on Toby's shoulder to stop him. "Hang on a minute," it said. "We haven't come up with a new name for you yet."

Robotsky said, "What about ..." It seemed to stall out with the effort, but recovered quickly. "... what about Astro?"

Sparx turned on Robotsky. "Oh be quiet! If you can't come up with a sensible suggestion, then kindly mind your own business." Robotsky apologized, and Sparks tapped its head, muttering, "Think, think." After a moment, it cried out, "I've got it!" It spread its arms as if describing a billboard. "Astro!"

"Oh, that's marvellous, that is," said Robotsky admiringly.

"Yes," said Sparx. "It's modern—a little space-age. I love it."

Toby tried again. "Thanks guys. Well, I'd better get going."

Sparx planted its hand on Toby's chest and told Robotsky, "Show Astro The Plan."

Robotsky saluted and said, "As you wish, comrade." It raised a blind to reveal a poster of a man with a robot. "This is Hamegg," it said, and promptly spit the distasteful name onto the floor. The other two did likewise.

"The likes of him enslave our kind," said Sparx. "We need to make an example of Hamegg. We want to do something so horrible, so frightening, so shocking, that the humans will be forced to free all robots."

This didn't sound good, Toby thought. And who could be directing them in this plan? "What are you going to do?" he asked.

"We're going to sneak into town ..." Sparx replied.

"We're going to lie in wait for Hamegg ..." continued Mike.

Robotsky leaned forward. "And when he shows up ..."

Toby was getting worried. "Yes?"

Sparx said, "Now, bear in mind we're forced to follow the laws of robotics."

"Okay." That does limit the options a bunch.

Sparx pointed at the poster and exclaimed, "We are going to tickle him with a feather!"

Robotsky pulled a second blind, revealing a labelled drawing of a feather, and they all shouted, "Viva la Robotolution!"

Toby rolled his eyes. Maybe there was nobody behind them; these poor guys didn't have a clue. "_That's_ the plan?"

"We're already looking into purchasing a feather," said Robotsky just as the door burst open.

Cora tumbled across the floor, pinned Sparx to the desk, and looked over at Toby. "You okay?" she asked as she held a large wrench threateningly over the robot's head.

Toby didn't know what to say. She had actually come and rescued him (although he didn't really need it) in spite of the fact she barely knew him, and it touched him. Nobody had ever done that to himself or the human Toby before.

The other three kids entered behind her as she said to Sparx, "Don't make us dismantle you. We just want the kid back."

The robot said, "Kid? What are you talking about? He's a ..."

Toby, realizing that the robot was about to blow his cover, grabbed it and slammed it against a nearby wall. "You want a piece of me, tin man?" he shouted, then whispered, "Be cool. I'm an undercover robot from Metro City."

Sparx whispered back, "I knew it. Viva la robotolution!"

Toby, relieved that it had been that easy, turned to Cora and said, "These guys aren't doing any harm. Let's just leave them."

Cora shrugged. "Whatever you say." The four of them went outside as Toby took the door.

Sparx stood in the centre of the room and said softly, "Thank you, brother. The RRF are forever in your debt." The three robots saluted as Toby closed the door, wishing fervently that he wouldn't have to deal with them again.

As he trotted back to join the kids, Cora asked, "So what _is_ your name?"

"Toby," he said, "but that's not who I really am. You see ..."

Cora interrupted. "Dude, it's a simple question."

He gave it a moment's thought. "My name's Astro. Call me Astro." A weight fell from his shoulders: he had his own identity now, separate from the boy Toby.


	5. Chapter 5: Hamegg

It was dusk, and the five of them were walking along an old elevated railway trellis. Astro looked down at the shabby, rundown buildings that spread out to one side. "So there's actually people living in these ruins?" he asked.

"Ruins?" Cora turned on him. "Hey! It might not look like much to a Metro City kid, but this place is home to us." She spread her hands. "And here we are."

Astro glanced about, puzzled, but Cora jumped down a large chute that lay inconspicuously on one side. The other three kids and Trashcan quickly followed.

When Astro hesitated, Cora called up, "Come on, Astro." He jumped and slid down, banging into Trashcan at the bottom and flipping it on its head. He set it on its feet and joined the rest in front of a door in a building with a sign reading 'Hamegg's'. Cora kicked the door loudly.

A light came on, a slot in the door slid open, and a pair of eyes demanded, "What's the password?"

Cora smiled sweetly and said, "Don't make me hurt you."

The boy inside whimpered, "Close enough," and the door slid upward to let them in. Astro entered the chaos of an unsupervised playground. He dodged a boy swinging in a tire tied to the ceiling, then ducked away from a golf ball hit off of the nearby pool table by an older boy.

As he followed his new friends across the floor, he paid too much attention to someone in the corner and got flattened by the tire swing that Cora had just avoided.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Sure," he said as he got to his feet and joined her on the stairs.

"You need ten sets of eyes around here," she said as they entered a room at the top where Zane and the twins were already waiting. "Hey, Hamegg!" Cora shouted over the noise caused by a very tall man who was working on a robot in the corner.

The man turned to see who was calling, and Astro cringed at his appearance: a large mask, a floor-length protective coat, and a flaming blow-torch in his hand. This was the great and terrible Hamegg.

"Ah-ha!" The man flipped his mask up, revealing a rather chubby, pleasant-looking face. "Back so soon?" He unzipped the coat and lowered the elevator he was standing on, revealing, not a giant, but a short, dumpy man who didn't look at all intimidating.

Satisfied that Hamegg wasn't the threat that the RRF had made him out to be, Astro turned his attention to a derelict robot standing beside him at the door. It looked very beat-up, with one eye hanging out and rust all over.

Hamegg tossed his mask aside and asked, "You kids find anything good for me today?" Picking over the junk on the work bench, he sighed. "I don't know, kids. A lot of dead batteries, a lot of elbows here." He checked one item and said, "The knee joint of a toilet-cleaning robot? I told you, I need heads."

Cora shrugged and said, "We would have gotten better stuff, but this is ..."

Astro pushed the dangling eye to put it back in place, but the robot blew apart instead. He attempted to catch the pieces as they fell, but only managed to get a few of the big ones. Then he realized that he was the centre of attention.

Hamegg exclaimed, "Well, well," as the twins giggled.

"His name's Astro," Zane said. "He's from Metro City."

Hamegg went over to Astro as he put down the last pieces, and said, "Metro City? Wow! I used to work there once upon a time."

"Really," said Astro.

Hamegg put his hands on his hips. "Why am I running a crummy body repair shop down here when I could be creating state-of-the-art robots in Metro City?"

Astro, caught off guard by the question, attempted to apologize, but Hamegg reassured him. "Relax, son; we're family here." He moved back over to the work bench and dug for something as Astro came up beside him. "The answer is, I love robots!" He drew an object out of the pile and picked up a screwdriver. "Especially the discarded ones. The more banged-up they are, the more abused, the more I like ..." He wound a spot on the egg-shaped object, and it chirped and fluttered into the air. "... getting them back on their feet!"

"Oh wow!" Astro said in awe.

"It's almost a religious thing with me," Hamegg went on. "Kind of like the way saints feel about the poor, or women feel about shoes, or fat people ..." He patted his stomach. "... feel about donuts, or ... uh, I'll stop with fat people and donuts."

"So you're not into enslaving robots," said Astro.

"What?"

"He ran into the RRF," Cora said.

Hamegg laughed. "I don't enslave robots! I love robots! They're our friends, and we rely on them for our daily bread." He folded his hands and closed his eyes as if in prayer, then suddenly looked at them. "Speaking of which, are any of you misfits hungry?"

* * *

The pool table in the main room was quickly cleared, and a couple of the girls trotted out with plates for everyone. The big sandy-haired boy came in from another room carrying a stack of pizza boxes, which he dumped on the table.

Hamegg sat down at one end as whatever chairs and benches that were still intact were dragged into position.

"Let me guess," Zane said. "Take-out pizza again." He flipped open the box nearest to him.

Sludge, who was sitting next to him, peered at the food. "More like 'taken out of the trash again'."

"Picky, picky," said Hamegg good-naturedly. "It's only a couple of days old." He frowned as the kids began to stuff their mouths. "Hey! Haven't you forgotten something?" They hesitated, and he looked at Astro. "What have they forgotten, son?"

Astro hesitated; he always assumed that, once everyone sat down, it was open season. What was Hamegg after? Taking the man's pretending to pray earlier as a possible clue, he said, "Grace?"

"Exactly." Hamegg looked down to the end of the table. "Grace!" he bellowed.

A small girl slammed down the lid of her pizza box and bellowed right back, "What?"

"Turn on the TV, sweetheart, would you please?" he asked mildly. "That's a dear."

Grace whipped out a half-dozen remotes and quickly got the wall of televisions blaring behind her.

Hamegg smiled at Astro. "Well, bon appetiti."

When Astro didn't immediately grab his slice, the big boy next to him asked, "Yo, new guy, you going to eat that?"

"You can have it if you want it."

The boy snatched it up as Cora said, "Don't be so nice. You're going to starve to death ... " Her slice sagged away from her mouth. "... or be the only survivor."

"So tell me, Astro," Hamegg said conversationally, "do your folks know where you are?"

"Well, I don't have any parents." That was technically true, since he was a robot.

"Oh, how very sad. Did you lose them? Or, even sadder, did they lose you?"

"No." Astro glanced around the table: Should he trust them? " The truth is, I'm actually a ..." He suddenly couldn't get it out. "I'm a ..." No! They're robot hunters!

Cora looked at him. "A what?"

Astro couldn't finish, but was saved by Hamegg, who said, "Don't worry, son. We're all orphans down here. Nothing to be ashamed about."

That startled Astro. "So none of you have parents."

Sludge almost laughed. "Parents? Are you kidding me?"

"This whole place is a parent-free zone," Cora said.

Zane proudly said, "I was born in the scrap heap." He jammed a chunk of pizza into his mouth. "I was raised by wild dogs."

Cora smiled knowingly. "Really? Are you sure it wasn't wild pigs?" she said to raucous laughter.

* * *

Astro sat on the bed Cora had assigned to him and stared at the bottom of the unoccupied bunk above. Why did Dad send the military after him to destroy him? Was he such a monster that he had to be obliterated? And how could a robot survive such an attack? He should by rights be a scattered debris field on the trash heaps down here on the surface. And the rocket feet: they must use a huge amount of power. No ordinary robot could afford it. What was his secret?

Hamegg stopped by Astro's bed as he did the final check on all his charges. "Feeling homesick for Metro City, Astro?" he asked when he saw that the boy was still awake and sitting up.

Astro wasn't quite ready to discuss his problems with the man. "No."

"Me neither. I was head of Advanced Robotics at the Ministry of Science, right up there with Tenma and the other mucky-mucks."

Dad knew this guy? "What happened?"

"What always happens to genius. They were intimidated by my talent, my ideas, so they threw me away like an old battery."

Astro could relate to that. "I'm sorry," he said.

Hamegg shrugged. "It's not your problem." He leaned forward. "You know, I've got a hunch about you, Astro. There's always room for a good kid in this family." He stood up. "Now how about getting some shuteye," he said as he took the blanket and tucked Astro in. "Goodnight ... son." And he was gone.

Astro felt a glow from Hamegg's warmth that he had never felt before, an unconditional acceptance. Although his father obviously loved Toby, no-one would have described him as 'warm'. It shouldn't take too long to trust Hamegg enough to tell him his secret.

A noise caught his attention, and he saw Trashcan watching him accusingly from near the railing. The little bucket of bolts was pressuring him, and he didn't like it. "I'm going to tell them, just not yet, okay?" He pulled the bed curtain across so he could ignore the robot, and lay back to think some more.

Why should he sleep? The last time he'd slept was back at home, before he knew he was a robot. A robot didn't need sleep after all, just a recharge—they shut down merely to save power when they weren't active. He was different.

To see how different, he pulled up his shirt and pressed on his chest where his power supply was. The little door popped open, and an unexpected soft blue glow filled the area. Astro examined the ball of light, its shifting surface, its obvious power. It had a unique beauty, and it was no ordinary power supply. Back in the lab, they had talked about a red core for the Peacekeeper—that was the last Toby memory he could recall. Was this a blue core? Maybe that was why he had unusual powers, even for a robot.

For Dad to put this in him, he must have been replacing something very precious. Certainly Astro's memories were of a father very proud of his son. The real Toby must have died tragically somehow, maybe in that lab where he had that final memory. What about Toby's mother? Astro dug deep, but could only remember pictures in his father's room of a pleasant-looking, round-faced and dark-haired woman. Did she die too, or were his parents divorced? He had no clue. Dad never talked about her, and Toby had never asked.

Astro sighed. Dad, you've got to be hurting something awful. There's no way I can hate you for what's happened to me. Did I disappoint you by being myself and not Toby?

Suddenly a yellow display appeared in front of his face saying, {System advisory: daily memory compiling and archiving incomplete. Please go to sleep.}

Astro chuckled and rolled onto his side obediently. "Sure, Dad," he muttered, acknowledging the person who must have programmed him. "No problem."


	6. Chapter 6: The Mighty Zog

Right after breakfast, Hamegg packed everyone off to look for robot parts as usual, and Zane suggested to Cora that they try in the hills away from the trash piles. It was old land, abandoned since Metro City had become airborne, and treasures had been found there before.

Astro had never (as Toby) seen so much open space, not to mention grass and trees and colourful wildflowers nodding in the breeze, but Trashcan wasn't allowing him to enjoy it.

"Hey!" he said angrily to the little robot. "Quit bugging me. I said I would, but I just want them to get used to me first." After all, he still didn't know why they were hunting for robots. He pushed it away and hurried to catch up with Cora and Zane. "What does Hamegg want all these parts for?" he asked.

"He's a genius," Cora replied. "He can make cool robots from pretty much any old scrap. And then he puts them into 'Hamegg's Robot Games'."

Astro thought that sounded wierd. "Robot games?"

"They're a tradition down here," she said. "It's kind of a Roman thing."

"And it's pretty cool," Zane added.

Astro didn't get the 'Roman' reference, but the information was a piece to the puzzle. He looked around. Whatever they found here was going to be very old. "You're not going to find much here. It's a graveyard."

Cora scoffed. "Mister Metro City's first day and he's already an expert."

"You'd be surprised," Astro said. "I know a thing or two about robots."

From up ahead, Widget called out, "Hey guys, I think we got something."

Cora looked at Astro knowingly. "See." She trotted over to where the twins were examining something large.

Trashcan suddenly started barking excitedly at Zane.

"Hey, what's the matter, boy?" Zane answered.

Trashcan ran over to where it had scratched something on the path, and Astro and Zane followed. There in the dirt was, 'ASTRO IS A ROBOT.'

Astro gasped and glanced furtively at Zane to see what his reaction would be.

Zane looked back doubtfully, then shrugged. "Almost makes me wish I could read." He went to join Cora.

Relieved, Astro muttered to Trashcan, "Nice try, rust bucket." The little robot could only yowl in frustration.

He wiped out the message with his foot, then took a step toward the little group ahead. A glint of something caught his eye, and he turned to see a huge derelict robot down in a small valley off to one side. By the corrosion on it, it had been there a very long time. "Cora! I think I found something!" he shouted as he ran down the hill towards it.

Cora came over to the edge of the path. "That's just an old construction robot," she said disdainfully. "It fell to the surface like a hundred years ago."

He looked back at the four of them snickering at him, but he had an idea. Could he share that strange blue energy in his chest? He had to try. "Do you think Hamegg could use it?"

"Yeah," she replied. "If he had a robot like that, he'd make a fortune in the games. But it's just junk. We used to have picnics on its head."

Astro wasn't about to be deflected. "Just give me a minute," he said as he started around the back of the robot.

Cora obviously was sceptical. "It weighs hundreds of tons. What are you going to do? Put it in your backpack?" The four of them laughed at him.

Once he was hidden from them, he muttered, "She'd flip if she knew I could carry it." He felt around for a moment before pulling at a seized-up old access panel, then opened it enough to get in. He looked around: it was indeed an antique. As he headed toward the control panel, his hand rested on a small plate, and he stopped to look at it. It read: 'Z.O.G., Serial number MC 02 2008, Model number NJ1 X4CZ 27'. "Hmm. Zog," he said, and dusted off his hands. "I know you're not dead; you're just pretending."

He scanned the circuitry with his super-vision until he found what he was looking for. Unzipping his jacket, he opened a small door in the control panel and said, "Time to wake up." There was no reason it shouldn't work. He pulled up his shirt and opened the chamber where the blue core was. Blue energy flowed into the panel as hoped, but nothing happened. "Let me help you," he pleaded, and pushed the energy this time. The machinery stuttered, and he shouted, "Come on!" There was a whirr and a roar, and Zog lived.

The instant Astro was confident that Zog was okay, he jumped back outside and closed the place where he had entered. Zog then creaked and groaned and struggled to its feet. Astro started to pull the plants and vines off of it, and called to the others, who were standing dumbfounded on the path, "Come on and help! We've got to clean it off for Hamegg!"

They ran down the slope and pitched in, but Cora stopped beside Astro and stared at the big robot. "How did you do that?" she asked after a moment.

Astro winced: he hadn't thought of how he was supposed to explain this. He for sure couldn't tell the truth, not yet anyway. "Um, you know, I just, ah, gave it a hit in the right place. Yeah. That's all."

She looked at him suspiciously. "That's all?"

"Yeah." He couldn't meet her gaze. "I-I told you I knew something about robots."

She crossed her arms and watched the others working for a moment, then shrugged and said, "Whatever you say." She then started to pull at a bush that had grown into Zog's front plate.

Astro sighed; lying was such a pain. But possibly being enslaved by Hamegg, in spite of the man's protestations, had to be worse.

* * *

They had a glorious time riding Zog back to town—the world looked different from that high up—but Astro was horrified when the big robot accidentally crushed a fighter robot that Hamegg was training out in the yard.

The kids all called out, "Hi, Hamegg," and waved at the stunned trainer.

Astro said, "Sorry about your robot," then moved over to Zog's hand. The other four joined him, and Zog placed them gently on the ground.

Hamegg finally closed his mouth. "What? Oh. Him? He wasn't really working out anyway." He moved over to get a closer look at Zog. "But this guy is something else! Look at the legs on this baby! Look at those feet!" He pounded on the robot's body and said, "None of your carbon fibre plastic junk on this guy. That's solid pig iron!"

"Astro got it running," said Cora, "which I'm still having trouble believing."

Fear gripped Astro as Hamegg came over to him. Would his lie hold up?

"But it's been dead for at least a century!" Hamegg said, then leaned close to Astro and asked confidentially, "How did you do it. Please, tell me. How did you do it?"

"I-I just kicked it. You know, like a vending machine." Feeling dirty for lying, he swung his leg. "Give me back my money! It was nothing."

"You hear that, kids? A genius, with modesty," Hamegg said. "I didn't think it occurred in nature!" He embraced Astro. "You're almost too good to be true, kid." Holding him at arms length, he went on, "Keep this up and I may just have to adopt you."

Astro cringed: he wasn't worthy of this praise. Maybe waking Zog had been a mistake.

Quickly fetching a metering device from a toolbox, Hamegg held it close to Zog as it took a reading. "Holy cow!" he exclaimed when he saw the result. "This thing's got enough juice to run a city!" As he spoke, his arm holding the device swept by Astro and twittered vigorously.

"What was that?" Astro asked, startled.

Hamegg snapped the device shut. "Oh, nothing, son," he said. "Just another machine with a mind of its own."

* * *

Astro stepped out into the night air of the yard and looked at Zog, which was shut down till morning. He said goodnight to it anyway, because he felt so good.

They had spent the entire afternoon and evening cleaning up the big robot, then painting it to make it look even more intimidating than it already was. Astro had never felt so much a part of a group of friends before, even as Toby, and he hoped he would never forget the experience. He had even gotten to rescue Cora, who had slipped from the top of Zog, and only his rocket feet had been fast enough to get him to her before she hit pavement. Of course she wondered again how he did it, but it was plain that she appreciated what he had done in spite of his lame explanation.

Lying was getting too easy. His hidden life had to end! But when?

Suddenly, Trashcan ran up, barking enthusiastically.

"Hey, Trashcan," Astro said. "You want to play?" The little bolt bucket might still be trying to prove to the others that he was a robot, but he didn't have the heart to hold that against it. It dropped its big wrench at Astro's feet, and he picked it up. "Fetch!" he said, and threw it. As he watched it sail far out into the trash hills, he realized that he still didn't know his own strength, and apologetically said, "Oops." Apparently Trashcan didn't care, because it tore off after the wrench.

Astro gazed up at Metro City as it floated in front of the full moon, and his heart went out to his suffering father. When will I see you again? Will you like me? Could you possibly love me?

"Hello." That was Cora's voice. He walked softly over to Hamegg's car, parked over past Zog, to investigate. "Hello?" she said again.

He peeked through the window of the open passenger-side door. "Hello?" he said cautiously, but she gasped and stood up anyway, banging her head on the top of the door frame and stumbling into a pile of metal trash in front of her.

"Didn't your nanny-bots tell you it's rude to sneak up on people?" she yelled, then got up and rubbed her head.

Astro felt badly for startling her, and asked, "How's your head?"

She checked. "It's still on." Returning to her seat, she looked wistfully at the phone in her hand. "You know, they say that sometimes when it's really clear, like tonight, you can still call through to Metro City."

"You want to call Metro City?"

She flinched guiltily at his question. "What? You've never made a prank call before? The only thing is ..." She poked the phone a couple of times. "... I can't get this stupid thing to work." She tossed it away, but Astro jumped up and caught it.

"Let me try," he said and turned his back to her to hide what he was about to attempt.

"Knock yourself out," she said, and sat back in the doorway.

Could blue energy fix this like it fixed Zog? Astro concentrated for a moment, then let the resulting strand of blue energy flow from his finger into the instrument. However, when he released the connection, it snapped back, and he shook his hand at the unexpected pain. Just the same, the phone beeped, so he handed it back to her. "Here. It's kind of weak, but there's a signal."

"Hey, not bad," she said admiringly. "The kid has hidden talents."

He smiled. "You have no idea."

She punched in a number, then stood up and listened to the phone. "Someone pick up. Please pick up. It's me, Cora." She sighed deeply. "I miss you guys." Looking like she was about to cry, she sat down.

"Are you okay?"

"Sometimes I wonder if they've even noticed I'm gone."

"Who?"

Cora turned to him, looking very vulnerable. "My parents."

Astro was taken aback. "Your-your parents?"

"That's right! Now you know the truth about me!" She swung herself up onto the roof of the car. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go tell Zane and the others that Cora's from Metro City!" She sat, then slid sadly down onto the hood. "And that she's still trying to call home."

Astro smiled. This was precious: she trusted him with something she hadn't even told the other guys. He gently said, "Don't forget about the part about you being raised by nanny-bots." She gasped, then gave a little laugh. He climbed up beside her. "Everybody's got secrets. I wouldn't tell. You can trust me, Cora."

"I know," Cora said and put her hand on his back. "You're a good guy, Astro."

Emboldened by her response, he asked, "Can I tell you something? My secret?"

"Sure. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Do you ever feel like you just don't fit in, like you're different from everyone else—kind of an outsider?"

"Of course. Everyone feels like that sometimes."

"Well, the last few days have been different for me. I mean, being with all you guys and Hamegg. The thing I need to tell you is, I'm a ..." She is still a robot hunter. "... I'm-I'm kind of a r ..." He glanced at Cora: He didn't want to lie any more. "I'm a ..."

Cora looked at him expectantly "Yeah?"

"I'm a r ..." I can't. "... really starting to like it here with you ..." He knew instantly that that sounded way too bold. How could he save himself? "... with you guys." He felt angry that he still didn't dare share his robot-hood with her. It wasn't fair! But at least this time he hadn't had to lie.

Cora lay back on the front window. "Yeah? Well, we like you too, Astro."

Suddenly Trashcan appeared, carrying the wrench and breathing hard.

"Hey, Trashcan," Cora said.

Trashcan dropped the wrench and collapsed, and Cora and Astro chuckled.

"I know it's not the same thing," Astro said, "but isn't Hamegg sort of like our dad now?"

"Yeah. I guess."

Astro wished the moment could last forever.


	7. Chapter 7: The Robot Games

Astro gazed down on the unorganized parade of people from his perch beside Zog's head. They were all heading to the stadium for the robot games, and he was looking forward to seeing what sorts of games robots actually played.

Hamegg zipped about ahead of Zog in a personal hover car proclaiming, "My fellow surface-dwellers!" A hidden amplifier projected his voice for all to hear. "Today's the day you've all been waiting for! Give him a hand, folks: the kid in the red boots! He's the one who got this killing machine up and running."

Zane and the twins were sitting on the big robot's cement mixer, while Cora rode like a queen in Zog's hand. "You are the golden child," she said to Astro. "Hamegg really likes you."

"I like him too. What's he mean by 'killing machine'?"

"Well, the robots fight until one of them is destroyed."

Astro couldn't contain his shock. "What?"

"Don't worry; Zog is going to crush them all."

"That's what happens in the robot games?"

"Well, what did you expect? Rock, paper, scissors?"

Astro leaned against Zog's head. This was not what he had expected or wanted, but he was committed to watch for now. At least he hadn't told them he was a robot, or he might well have found himself on one of the fight cards.

* * *

The kids dismounted when they got to the stadium, and Zog led them into the stables under the bleachers, where all the competing robots had their stalls.

Astro mulled over how to deal with the situation, and decided, once Zog was parked, to make his appeal. "I thought it was a show, not a slaughter," he said to Hamegg.

"They're just robots, son."

'Just robots'? "I thought you liked robots?"

"I do," Hamegg answered as he started to walk away, Astro following directly behind him. "But at the end of the day, they're just junk waiting to happen. I know, some of those more advanced ones from Metro City are programmed to smile and laugh, just like us."

Cora said, "Really?"

"Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, they don't have real emotions, which is why I have no problem doing ... _this_!" He spun around unexpectedly and aimed a forked device at Astro. A crackling beam of radiation hit him and enveloped him in light.

Pain! Astro hadn't felt such pain even when he was being attacked by that big ship in Metro City—a memory of Toby's told him it was called the Spirit of Freedom. Fault and error messages flooded his mind, and he collapsed as he started to go into protective shutdown.

He could still see Hamegg, who exclaimed, "It worked! I don't believe it!"

Cora was horrified. "What are you doing?"

Hamegg held the instrument up proudly. "I swiped this from Doctor Tenma after he fired me from the Ministry of Science."

"Who cares? Why did you do that to Astro?"

"He's our friend!" Sludge said.

Hamegg turned on them angrily. "I thought I raised you better. Are you blind? He's a robot!"

Astro numbly wondered how the man had discovered his secret. Could it have been when he had been using that metering instrument on Zog? It was the only possibility he could think of. Stupid.

"He's ..." Cora looked down at Astro in shock. "That's not true." Hamegg nodded gently as the others stared sadly at their fallen comrade. "It can't be true."

Oh Cora! Astro thought sadly. You trusted me. I didn't mean for you to find out like this.

{Initialize(main shutdown)}

"Somebody programmed him to be nice," Hamegg went on. "He's not really nice; he's just an incredibly powerful machine."

Cora seemed shattered. "But he was so ..."

"I know, sweetheart," Hamegg said to her.

{Complete} Please, Cora, don't hate me. {Initiate(main shutdown)} ...

* * *

{Clear(fault codes)} {Complete} {Clear(error codes)} {Complete} {Initialize(centre)} {Complete} {Initiate(centre)} {Complete}

Where am I? Astro opened his eyes and saw that he was trapped inside a small capsule of some sort, with daylight leaking in.

At that moment, Hamegg started his spiel. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ..." He was in the hover car, flying above the stadium floor. "... and all you riff-raff who snuck in without buying a ticket, allow me to present ..." The capsule opened to reveal Astro to the crowd which filled the bleachers. "... Astro-boy!"

Astro, still dazed, wandered off of the small platform that housed the capsule. Somebody had put shoulder pads on him and placed a red 'A' on the front of his shirt.

Hamegg was in fine form. "I know, I know; you're wondering what a nice-looking kid like that is doing in a place like this. That ain't no kid, folks! That's a robot! From Metro City!"

Astro scanned the seats and finally located Cora and the others, but as soon as he made eye contact with her, she frowned and looked away. He felt sick. He couldn't help it that he was a robot, and there was no way he could have told her, as events had proven.

Hamegg swooped down near Astro. "Get this, folks! Astro personally told me he doesn't think much of our fighting robots."

That angered the crowd, which was exactly what it was supposed to do, and they jeered and booed at him.

"Thinks we're all a bunch of sissies," Hamegg continued. "Thinks you're all trailer-park trash!" He swooped towards one of the doors along the high walls that separated the floor from the bleachers. "This is what we've all been waiting for: a fight between the surface and Metro City. Let's get it on!"

Astro braced himself: he was on one of the cards after all. Too bad.

The immense door opened to reveal a large, black, ninja-style robot with spinning circular saw-blade hands. It advanced on him aggressively.

"I'm not fighting!" he said, but it attacked anyway, and he had to back off in a hurry.

The crowd roared its approval.

Astro swooped behind the robot and landed on its back. "I'm not doing this!" he said and shot upward, but was stunned by an unexpected force field over the stadium. He plummeted to the ground, but recovered just in time to avoid the other robot's next move. He dodged a flurry of attacks—he wasn't going to be able to avoid a fight—got under the robot and lifted it up into the force field, destroying its head.

He tossed the remains onto the arena floor and descended. He wasn't proud of what he had just done; a robot had been destroyed because of him—no, because of Hamegg. This was his idea.

But why was there a force field up there at all? None of the other robots he had seen looked like they could fly.

A couple of utility machines pushed the defeated robot into a pit to one side as Hamegg cried out, "Bring out the Little Stinker!"

An adorable-looking little robot came out toward Astro and asked in a child-like voice, "Will you play with us?"

"Us?" Astro asked. He could only see one.

"Yes, us." It quickly split and became two deadly-looking robots. Astro backed away quickly, but one of the pair opened fire with machine guns.

Astro tore around the inside wall of the stadium, keeping low to protect the audience from bullets and shrapnel—keep the humans out of this! He then shot in very close to the robot with the spiky club, spun around it to confuse it, then rapped on its head. "Hey fella," he said.

The robot swung at him, but he dodged, causing the blow to fall on the machine-gun unit and immobilize it.

Astro snatched the unit up and aimed it at the other one. The heavy gunfire destroyed it, and he flung the unit into the wall, where it exploded.

Hamegg was furious, and ordered every robot in the place out to battle Astro. They quickly surrounded him, but he knocked back all comers. Then, drawing on all of his strength, he threw himself into the battle, scattering chunks of robot all around the stadium floor.

When the last one was defeated, he rose up into the air, exhausted. An awed silence hung over the stadium for a moment, then the audience jumped up as one and cheered their lungs out.

He only had eyes for Cora. Finding his friends again in the bleachers, he gave her a tentative smile, but she refused to meet his gaze. His heart crumbled: she hated him after all. He settled back onto the floor as the maintenance robots cleared the last pieces out of the way, hoping—fervently wishing—that the fighting was over.

Hamegg had other ideas. "And now," he announced, swooping low. "The final challenger! A robot so fearsome, so powerful, even I'm afraid to watch." A hatch opened in the floor, and up rose Zog into the light of day. "I give you the Mighty Zog!"

"Oh, no," Astro said. The man couldn't have hit him with a more painful blow if he'd used his zapper.

Hamegg flew over beside Zog and said, "Let's see how Astro-boy does against a robot powered with the same energy he's got."

Astro clenched his fists. The man _had_ discovered he was a robot by using that metering device back when they first brought Zog to him. Astro had no choice. "I'm not fighting you, Zog," he declared, but the whole place shook as Zog lumbered toward him. "I mean it!" he cried, and ripped the A and shoulder pads off. "I won't fight!"

Zog came to a crashing halt beside him and reached toward him. Astro braced himself for the attack, but it never came: Zog gently rubbed him on the head and nudged him in a gesture of companionship. It then lowered its hand and offered it to him. He climbed on and was lifted high into the air, to the loud acclaim of the people watching.

Hamegg was not impressed. "Great! A love-in! Some big finale!" He whipped out the instrument of torture and commanded, "Fight!" He zapped Zog, then, when Astro tried to take off, hit him full force, knocking him to the ground.

Struggling to get to his feet, Astro said, "I won't fight!"

"Fight!" He zapped him again, even harder.

From the stands Astro heard Zane bellow, "That's enough!"

Hamegg turned on Zane. "What's the matter with you? They're just machines. They'll do what I tell them!" Jumping down from his hover car, he approached the stubborn robots. "What? I'm going to get embarrassed by some souped-up hot-shot from Metro City?" He hit Astro. "A hundred-year-old bulldozer from New Jersey?" He hit him again. "I don't think so!"

Astro struggled to block out the protective shutdown as the fault messages flooded his mind. If he lost consciousness now, he was doomed.

Stopping in front of the two robots, Hamegg said, "I'm turning you both off!"

Suddenly it seemed as if Zog had had enough; it brought one of its great feet crashing down onto the floor, which bounced and knocked Hamegg off of his feet. The man scrambled to pull himself away from the enraged machine; however, Zog caught up with him easily and raised a foot over him threateningly.

"Stop!" cried Hamegg in desperation. "The laws of robotics! You can't hurt a human! It's been that way for fifty years."

His head swimming, Astro watched in horror at what was going on, and dragged himself to his feet. This must not happen!

Zog hesitated, then spoke for the first time. "I'm old school," it said, and brought its foot down full force with a clank.

The audience gasped.

Astro groaned; the weight of Zog's foot was crushing, but he had made it.

Hamegg looked up, startled. "What kind of robot are you?"

Astro turned and gazed at Cora: See what kind of robot I am? This time she did not look away.

The roar of President Stone's command ship filled the air, and it came in and landed on the stadium floor near Zog. Soldiers poured out and took up positions around the perimeter, guns pointed at the audience.

Zog stepped back, and Astro straightened up, wondering why the military was still chasing him. Would Dad never give up?

President Stone stepped out and commanded, "Seize the rogue robot, and secure the area."

Astro blinked in surprise. Or was it Dad? The president was here, and he would hardly being doing Astro's father's bidding. What was going on?

A soldier took hold of Astro, but Zog grabbed the man and another soldier nearby, and hoisted them into the air.

Astro couldn't let it turn into a war. "No, Zog, stop! Put them down." It all suddenly became so clear to him: he could live a life on the run, putting the lives of others at risk; or he could accept the reality that he had been rejected, tossed aside as the lowly robot he was, by the most important people in his life. He sighed and said, "It doesn't matter any more."

Zog obediently dropped the soldiers, and another soldier shoved Astro toward the waiting ship. The audience was incensed and began to throw things.

Now in handcuffs, Astro turned to Cora and told her, "I'm sorry. I tried to tell you." If she at least didn't hate him, it would be okay.

The soldier pushed him toward the ramp, then was attacked by Trashcan, who had come down out of the audience to defend Astro. It was merely kicked aside, and Astro told it, "It's okay, Trashcan." He then turned to face his lonely, meaningless death.


	8. Chapter 8: Battle of Two Robots

"President Stone's approval rating reached a new low today when he failed to show up for a televised debate with Robert Logan, the man many are picking as the next President of Metro City."

Astro couldn't help hearing the broadcast announcer as he was roughly seated by a small window at the back of the operations room of the ship. He looked outside at Cora. Good-bye, he thought. I wish I'd had the chance to explain things to you. Sorry. Sorry.

President Stone shut off the display and muttered, "No darned dirty hippie is going to sit in _my_ oval office eating mung beans and stinking of petulie oil." He strutted over to Astro. "I've got the blue core. My Peacekeeper's going to start a war with the surface. It's bound to get me re-elected."

As Stone turned away, Astro frowned. The president _had_ been the one chasing him! But Stone was looking for a fight with the surface. Just to get re-elected, he was going to put people's lives in jeopardy?

"Why the long face, robot boy?," asked Stone. He leaned forward and looked him in the eye. "We're taking you home to your dad. Care for a drink?" He held up a can labelled 'oil' and laughed.

"Very funny, Mister President," said a nearby soldier as the others laughed along.

Astro hung his head wearily. If he fought to keep the blue core, people would die. If he was shut off and this man got the blue core, more people were going to die. He was trapped. What should he do? What could he do?

* * *

He glanced up as he was brought into the laboratory and saw his father and Doctor Elefun standing near the powerless Peacekeeper. Are you still angry with me, Dad?

"The experiment is over," said President Stone. "I want the blue core removed and transferred into the Peacekeeper, now!"

"Will you help me, Elefun?" Tenma asked.

"This is where we created him."

Stone shoved the miserable Astro forward. "Well, uncreate him! Unplug him! It's a matter of national security."

Astro didn't move, just kept gazing blankly at the floor. Do I fly? Do I submit? I don't know! He was utterly alone.

Elefun stepped forward. "Let me talk to him first." Stone gave an impatient sigh, but said nothing.

Astro raised his eyes to the friendly face. Well, almost alone. "Hello, Doctor Elefun."

"Hello, Toby."

"Toby? Nobody's called me that for a while."

"This isn't your fault, you know. You were fantastic, absolutely first-class, superb, wonderful!"

"Thank you. You know, I tried to find my place in the world. I-I thought I'd found it, but I guess fitting in can be a lot more complicated than it seems, huh?"

Elefun smiled. "Dear boy, if you only knew."

Astro tried to show that he was brave. "I think maybe this is what's supposed to happen. This is my destiny."

"Oh, boo-hoo-hoo!" said Stone, and steered Astro toward the work table. "It's a machine! Come on, let's get moving people."

Elefun surged forward, only to be stopped by soldiers. "This is wrong, Tenma," he exclaimed. "You know it!"

Tenma hesitated and turned to look back. "The president is right. It's just a machine."

Astro didn't want Elefun to be so angry, so he said, "'Bye, Doctor Elefun."

President Stone told his aide, "Load the blue core into the Peacekeeper. I've got a press conference scheduled in ten minutes." He checked his watch, indifferent to the fate of his prisoner.

Two soldiers lifted Astro onto the work table. Tenma approached, looked at Astro, and sighed.

Astro looked up. Have you changed your mind about me, Dad?

Tenma laid him very gently on the table while Astro kept eye contact. His father hesitated, then lifted the boy's shirt. His hand hovered over the power supply door, and Astro could see pain, worry—but no anger—and he rejoiced. He was about to die, but he wasn't alone. Tenma opened the little door and reached for the blue core, then glanced once more into the face of his son's copy. Astro felt a thrill of fear in the face of death, but gave his father a small, encouraging smile. Tenma carefully removed the core.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Astro knew he was. "Don't be," he said. His thoughts became blurry as the loss of power affected him. "I'm sorry I couldn't be a better Toby for you ..." No! He had one more thing to say! "Da ..."

* * *

He was awake. No, he was alive! Astro sat up. He was still in the lab, and there was his father. "Wha-wha-wha-wha-what are you doing?"

Tenma took him by the shoulders and said, "You may not be Toby, but you're still my son!"

"Dad!" said Astro happily. His father loved him! He stood up, but unexpectedly Tenma hugged him, a rare sign of affection that he intended to treasure.

Tenma released Astro as Stone's men advanced, weapons at the ready, and cried, "Now, fly, fly!"

Astro snapped the handcuffs easily. He belonged here: he had a home. So now it was back to Cora! She deserved an explanation big time. Crashing through the ceiling, he dodged as many pipes as he could in the conduit that he found until he broke out into the air above the city. Getting his bearings, he headed off at full speed toward the railway trellis that ran near Hamegg's place.

Suddenly, there were two small objects in front of him, and he blew past them before he could stop. Dashing back, he found a Mr. Squirt and Mr. Squeegee trying to regain flight control, and he grabbed hold of them. "Sorry, guys," he said.

"Oh no!" cried the Mr. Squirt. "It's that crazy flying kid again!"

What were the odds? "I'm a robot, just like you," Astro said. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"We got tired of the rat race. We dropped out."

"We're trying to live more natural," said Mr. Squeegee. "You know, like real birds."

There was the loud thump of an explosion, and they all turned to look at Metro City.

"What's that?" Astro asked as more explosions rippled through the air like fireworks, and smoke started to rise over the city.

Mr. Squirt said, "You know what humans are like: New Year's, Fourth of July, Mother's day ..."

Astro's super-hearing made it clear that those were no fireworks. Who could be fighting? And were people dying? "We've got to do something," he exclaimed.

"What?" said Mr. Squirt. "Help the humans? We're robots! It's not our problem."

"Yeah. Forget about them," said Mr. Squeegee. "What did they ever do for us?"

Give me a lot of problems, Astro thought grimly as he listened to a couple more explosions. But I've got to see what I can do. Sorry, Cora; you'll have to wait a little longer. He shot back toward the city.

As he got close, he could see some of the damage—this was no minor skirmish: it was a war. A sign announced 'Downtown area cleared!' Well, that at least was good news. On the alert for possible casualties, he landed on a roadway crowded with abandoned cars. Who could be doing this much damage, and why?

A booming voice echoed through the buildings, "Come out, come out, wherever you are." It started to sing nonsense as if it was playing a game, then called out, "Where are you, robot boy?"

Suddenly the Spirit of Freedom rose out of a heavy plume of smoke and turned toward him. Why is it attacking me this time? Astro wondered, and braced himself, but a great hand appeared behind the ship and came crashing down on a nearby building, crushing it. An immense caricature of the Peacekeeper loomed up and caught sight of him.

"Ah, there you are," it said, pointed the ship—which was actually its left arm—at Astro, and opened fire.

Astro barely dodged the blast, and shot off down the roadway away from this monster, explosions and fire following him close behind. They got too close, and he had to escape upward. Safe for the moment, he turned to face his enemy. Was that really the Peacekeeper? What had happened to it to make it so big and powerful? Did it have that red core? If so, it meant that President Stone had sent it after his blue core. This would have to be a battle to the finish—there was no running away this time, or people and robots would be killed. How many had already died?

At that instant, a blue heads-up screen appeared in front of his face which read, 'Activate arm cannons'. Arm cannons? His arms straightened and transformed into a pair of blaster guns—a new trick. "Cool," he exclaimed, and fired, but he wasn't braced for the kick, and was thrown well back. The shot must have made contact, because the giant robot roared at him.

Astro recovered in time to see the Spirit of Freedom aimed at him again. Ducking behind some buildings, he flew closer before breaking out into the open, guns blazing, but the monster seemed unaffected by them. He got too close and a giant hand slammed him into the street below, but he quickly tunnelled behind the Peacekeeper, bursting out and flipping the great thing onto a nearby building, crushing the structure.

The monster recovered quickly and said, "This city elected me!" It punched its left hand into a building. "I own it!" The right hand hit another, and the Peacekeeper rapidly doubled in height and became even more massive as the buildings shrank away to nothing.

Astro watched in horror. The thing was using the adaptive technology! Not only that, it was talking like President Stone! What was with that? There was no way a robot this big could be remotely controlled, and how could a robot absorb a person?

He took a few ineffectual shots at the Peacekeeper, then flew out of range of its great arms. Well, if it thought it was the president, why not play along? He saw that a tall building nearby was located perfectly, so he got into position and shouted, "Hey! I'm voting for the other guy!"

It worked. The massive robot took an angry swing at him, but he dodged so that the fist hit the building, which then toppled onto the Peacekeeper, apparently crushing it.

Unexpectedly, Astro heard cheering behind him, and turned to see a fair number of people who must have come out of hiding to watch the battle. Assuming that he had defeated the Peacekeeper, he took a bow, but was immediately grabbed from behind by an immense hand. The Peacekeeper chuckled and drew him closer.

Astro got the message from his processor about the machine-guns in his butt, but it didn't mean he was any less surprised than the Peacekeeper when they popped out and blasted the eye of the monster. After a quick tumble when the Peacekeeper dropped him, he regained flight control, but had to watch as the guns disappeared. "I've got machine-guns in my butt?" he marvelled. That was a mistake.

Suddenly the monster robot swung a building at him like a baseball bat. He was driven through two buildings and onto a street over a half kilometre away, tearing it up and leaving him stunned and damaged. He watched helplessly as the Peacekeeper bore down on him, crushing whatever was in its way—he fervently hoped that the people were clear as one robot disappeared beneath a massive foot. What were his own chances against that form of attack? He had been driven into the street not long before and survived fine, but he had been healthy then.

The Peacekeeper soon located him and lifted a foot to crush him. Abruptly a shadow passed over him, an arm reached out, and he was lifted into a car, which fled as soon as he was in.

"Astro?"

"Cora?" Astro smiled with relief—she had come back for him, again. "Thanks, guys." But then he noticed a problem: there were Cora, Zane, and the twins. He glanced toward the front of the car. "Who's driving?"

Trashcan barked from the driver's seat, and they all panicked. It struggled with the controls for a moment before Zane shoved it aside.

They swept past the Peacekeeper's head and raced away, the great robot tearing after them and taking swipes at them. This, Astro noticed with dread, was causing a terrible amount of collateral damage, and they were heading into an undamaged part of the city. Not any more, he thought grimly.

Just as they started to gain some distance, there was a massive electrical explosion: The Peacekeeper had run into the central power station. Astro hoped that would destroy the monster, but guessed that he couldn't be so lucky.

As he moved to one side to get back from the car door, which was still open, he noticed that he was moving freely again. Using his super-vision, he scanned his arm that was still bothering him, and saw blue sparks moving about under his skin and the damage disappearing. He thought that was really cool until the chilling thought came: What if the red core did the same thing for the Peacekeeper? He had nothing that could inflict enough damage to destroy the monster before it could recover. His heart sank. Was this to be a no-win situation?


	9. Chapter 9: It Ends

"Are we going up?" Sludge asked from the back window of the car.

Cora jumped over beside him to take a look. "No," she exclaimed. "The city's going down!"

Astro's heart leaped to his throat. The people! He stepped to the open door. "Cora," he said. "I have to take care of this." Because, right now, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who can.

For some reason, she didn't want him to go, but he knew what had to be done—slow the island's descent. He shot over beneath the falling island, quickly calculated its centre of gravity, and pushed up against it, firing his rocket feet hard. When he saw that it was still falling too fast, he drove his rockets to maximum: this was going to cost him.

Once he felt the city touch down, he saw that he was in a small glowing pit hollowed out by his rockets. Exhausted, he settled on the bottom and stood there, feeling the blue energy revive him.

Then it was back to business. Tunnelling up, he broke through near where he could hear the Peacekeeper calling, "Where are you, robot boy? I know you're still alive." He ripped a girder out of a building under construction and slammed it down on the monster's huge head, but it did almost no damage.

"That all you got?" the Peacekeeper taunted.

Astro didn't know what else to do, so he attacked with his fists—a futile gesture—hammering away at the huge robot's face and hoping beyond hope that he would come up with something; however, deep down he knew that he had failed. The Peacekeeper had won.

Getting annoyed, the Peacekeeper swiped at him, and Astro quickly backed away, but he was directly in front of the monster's belly. A huge clamp shot out and snatched him out of the air, pulling him inside.

"Party's over, kid," said the Peacekeeper. "Blue core obtained."

For an instant, Astro thought he was about to be absorbed—a fate worse than death because he would become the Peacekeeper's tool. But unexpectedly pain detonated in his chest, and ribbons of blue energy began to pour out of him, mingling explosively with the red energy around him.

The Peacekeeper also felt it, crying out in agony as the reaction grew.

There was a sharp blast, and Astro found himself hurtling through the air, spinning and tumbling until he crashed into a partially demolished building. After a moment, he struggled to his feet, joints whining and grinding, fault messages streaming.

"Toby!" Tenma ran over to him from the car hovering at the far edge of the open floor.

Astro turned to look. "Dad!" he cried, but it was too much, and he stumbled. His father caught him before he could fall, and he asked, "I don't understand. Why didn't it absorb me?"

"Because it can't. If the red and blue cores come together, well, you both die."

Astro gasped: the Peacekeeper's weakness! And his own.

"Come on, son," said Tenma, and encouraged him to stand. He did, but his body still complained noisily. His father drew him toward the car. "We need to get far away."

That was so tempting: Astro didn't want to have to die again, for this time there would be no return: the blue core—along with the red one—would be irretrievably gone, annihilated in a positive-versus-negative explosion.

Abruptly, everything changed. "Where's your robot friend?" the Peacekeeper yelled. "Where is he?"

Astro stopped and turned. Who's he talking to? Suddenly someone burst into tears—Widget!

"Tell me where he's hiding! Tell me!"

Widget! Cora! Zane and Sludge! NO! He stumbled toward the ragged edge of the shattered wall.

"You hear me? Where is he?"

"We have to go," said his father.

Astro gazed out over the wounded city to where the Peacekeeper stood. "This is it," he said, and turned to his father. It was all he could do to say, "This is what I was created for." He was about to rip his dad's heart out one more time, and he wished he could cry. "This is my destiny."

Tenma's face showed that he knew what his robot son was talking about, but wasn't ready to accept it. "Toby! Now!"

"I'm sorry, but this is who I am. Onward and upward ... Dad." He jumped and shot off toward his enemy as his father called desperately after him.

One chance to get it right. Think bullet. Fast. Straight. I'm a weapon, just like the Peacekeeper. Maybe it's just as well that we'll both be destroyed. The world will be safer without us and our cores.

The Peacekeeper suddenly realized what Astro intended, and struggled to fend him off, shouting for him to wait.

Too late, my friend.

I wanted a chance to love. Dad. Cora. I don't want to die. But I must. For everybody I've known.

He hit the robot's belly and crashed into the heart of the red energy. The reaction was immediate and irreversible. And no-one else would die because of him. It was enough ...


	10. Chapter 10: A New Beginning

Intense light. Great peace.

Where am I?

_Be patient; you will be returning in a moment._

Please, I want to stay here.

_You must go; there are things you have to do._

Who are you, sir?

_You will learn that in due time._

{Initiate (centre)}

I've got things I've got to do?

Astro opened his eyes, and his three favourite people were standing over him. "Dad! Cora!" Doctor Elefun was there too, beaming joyfully.

Astro sat up and glanced around anxiously. "What happened?" He looked at his father. "Is the Peacekeeper gone?"

Tenma nodded, and Astro grabbed him in a big hug. Then it hit him, and he pulled back. "How am I still ...?"

Everyone turned to Zog, looming over a cherry tree fittingly in full spring bloom, and it tapped its chest—the blue energy! Zog had shared its energy to bring him back, just as he had brought it to life. Astro ran over and leaned against it. "Thank you, Zog."

Zog nodded and said, "No biggy."

Trashcan, the twins, Zane and Cora ran over to Astro. Zane slapped him on the back and grinned; Sludge punched him in the shoulder, then yelped and shook his hand in pain; Widget smiled bashfully at him, and he patted her shoulder; and Trashcan ran around everyone, barking joyfully.

Cora held back, and Astro stepped over to her hesitantly. She gave a nervous half grin and said, "Hey, non-kid."

"Hey, yourself," he said, then sighed. "Sorry I didn't tell you I was a robot."

"That's okay, but why didn't you? I mean, we were friends and all."

"I-I know, but you're a robot hunter. I didn't dare."

Her jaw dropped, and she slapped her hand to her mouth. "I'm so stupid! I never thought of that."

"No problem," he said, and spread his arms in forgiveness.

She grabbed him and hugged him fiercely for a moment. "Thanks," she whispered, then let go.

Astro gazed at her and wondered if he would ever again share a moment with anybody like the one with her on the hood of Hamegg's car. Probably not, he thought grimly: she had opened up to his imitation humanity.

He looked around to see that they were in the middle of a field not far from Metro City, which sat slightly askew on the ground. "How did you guys find me here?"

She pointed at the car. "We flew all around the city five times looking for you after the Peacekeeper was destroyed, and then we spotted Zog standing over you here."

"We've been here for a while," said Zane. "Man, it was like at a funeral. Your dad showed up a couple of minutes ago. That short fat guy with him figured out to have Zog zap you. It's so cool you're back."

"No kidding," Astro said. "But I think this dying thing is getting seriously old. I hope I don't have to do it again soon." The kids laughed at that, and then Tenma caught his eye. "Gotta go," he said, and went over to his father.

Tenma smiled. "Welcome back, son."

"It's good to be back, sir." And he meant it.

His father stared away into the distance. "So like Toby, and yet so not Toby. I'm glad you took a new name ... Astro." He said the name as if trying it on for size. "It will give me a chance to ..." He stopped.

Astro touched his arm. "I understand. And I'll try to be a good Astro for you, Dad."

His father stared at him for a moment, then turned and walked purposefully toward the cherry tree as if to be alone.

Elefun took Astro's hand. "I think you've finally found your place in the world. You're a hero; a robot with the heart of a lion."

Astro smiled wanly. "I don't like being a hero: It hurts too much. I think I'll find something a little less exciting to do for a while." He glanced over at the fallen city. "You think they'll need any help cleaning up?"

Sobering, Elefun said, "They've started the search for casualties. Several hundred have already been found dead. And half the buildings have suffered some degree of structural damage, not to mention the power station."

"Oh, no." Astro sagged to his knees. "All because of this stupid blue core. I wish it had never been made."

"Don't. If it hadn't been this, it would have been something else."

"Like President Stone's war with the surface?"

"Yes." Elefun knelt down in front of Astro. "Like the war with the surface. Metro City desperately needed waking up. It has gotten too comfortable, too rich. This disaster is just what was required."

"I don't understand." Astro looked at Elefun pleadingly. "Metro City wasn't good?"

The old scientist put his hand on Astro's shoulder and stiffly pushed himself up. "You have much to learn. It's a good thing you have the appearance of a child; people won't mind explaining things to you. Just take your time."

Astro stood up. "Sure. But they do need help, right?"

"I'll take you to someone in the morning, and he'll assign you a suitable task."

Tenma came over and said, "I think it's time to go, son."

Astro looked over at Cora and the others. "What about them?"

"I don't know. Do you have any idea who's responsible for them?"

"Probably Hamegg." Tenma's eyebrows went up at the name, but he didn't say anything. Astro continued, "They've been living at his place for a while, I guess." He turned. "I'll go check."

"What's happening?" asked Cora when he got close.

"I'll be going home with Dad in a minute," said Astro. "You guys going to be okay?"

She shrugged and looked at the ground. "I guess we'll go with Zog back to Hamegg, if he'll take us, because we've got nowhere else to stay. I'm going to start searching for my parents tomorrow, now that it's easy to get into the city."

"Okay," Astro said, and thought grimly of the casualties. "I'm sure they're fine."

"Y-yeah." She turned her back to him. "Look after yourself," she said and almost ran to the car.

When she shut the door, something in his heart broke: he stood utterly alone on a great divide; he was too human to truly be a robot; but his humanity was only skin deep. There was nowhere that he truly fit in. He clenched his fists. He had things to do. He would have to accept where he was at and move on.

His father and Dr. Elefun had gotten into the car, so he trotted over and got in. "Where's Arn?" he asked when he realized that Tenma was sitting in the driver's seat.

"I gave him the day off," his father said as he started to drive. "I've decided to be kinder to my robots, to set a good example to the people of Metro City."

Astro gave a discrete sigh. What was Dad up to now?

O_rrin wasn't at the door to greet them when they got in, which kind of bothered Astro, but on his way to his bedroom to 'compile and archive', he found the robot already parked in its recharge station, shut off for the night.

* * *

In the morning, Astro passed through the living room on his way to meet Dr. Elefun, and he overheard his father talking on the video phone to somebody he didn't recognize, though the man looked important.

"... and they still haven't been able to locate the president. As far as I have been able to determine, you and Doctor Elefun are some of the last people to have seen him. Do you know anything?"

"This is going to sound very odd," said Tenma, "but he was absorbed by the Peacekeeper right before it began its rampage."

Astro froze. He had been battling the president? So that's why the Peacekeeper had talked like that! But that also meant—he stumbled forward a step at the implication—he must have killed President Stone.

"Odd indeed," said the stranger. "What on earth do you mean?"

"I built the Peacekeeper with a very powerful adaptive technology, which permitted it to absorb almost anything and use it." He shook his head. "I never imagined that it would have been able to absorb a human."

"Then I suppose that we must presume him lost in that final blast."

"I would reluctantly have to agree, your honour."

"I see. I will have to convene the council then. There is much to be done, and we must get the acting president sworn in as soon as possible."

Astro had heard enough, and he headed to the front door, mulling grimly over his first killing.

"Master Toby," said O_rrin to him as he passed the kitchen. "Do you have a moment?" He looked distressed.

Astro sighed. "Call me Astro, Arn. I'm not Toby any more. What's up?"

"Very well, Master Astro. Bill gave me part of yesterday off after he located you. Why would he do such a thing? I exist to serve, and it left me with nothing to do, so I came home."

Bill? "I've got no clue what Dad's up to with that. Tell you what: I'll try to talk to him about it when I get home tonight, okay?"

O_rrin smiled with relief. "Thank you, Master Astro. But what will you be doing? Everything is closed today."

"I'm going to help with the cleanup."

"I see. Well, have a good day."

"Thanks, Arn."

* * *

"Hello, Astro," said Elefun as Astro got in the car.

"Morning, Doctor Elefun," said Astro as he sat down. "What am I going to be doing? Do you know?"

"I'm taking you over to where they're searching for survivors. I believe that they will find your power quite useful."

"Sounds good to me."

As they got out of the car, Elefun put on a hard hat, then led Astro over to a group of people who were examining a building layout.

"Hey!" a big man shouted at them and came storming toward them. "What's that kid doing here? Get him out of here now!"

"This is the robot I was telling you about," said Elefun calmly.

The man stopped in his tracks. "No kidding," he said feebly. "Um, but he's so puny. We need power, not a service robot."

Astro glanced at Elefun, who nodded. He then flew over and landed by a piece of wall lying on the ground that was about three metres by two metres in size. Picking it up easily, he turned and put it gently back down.

The man stared for a moment, then exclaimed, "Brilliant! Heavy equipment that isn't heavy!" Pointing at another man, he said, "Jeff, take this robot over to where they heard the voices. I'll bet it won't destabilize that weak floor." When Jeff hesitated, he shouted, "Move it!"

Jeff ran over to Astro, muttered, "Come on," and they jogged around the collapsed building to another group of people. Indicating Astro, he said, "I've got our heavy machinery here."

The people stared at Astro, but before anybody could say anything, Jeff pointed to where one floor rested on another. "If you can open that up," he said to Astro, "we can get to a couple of people trapped inside. Can you do that?"

Astro grabbed a corner of the upper floor. Testing its weight for a moment, he then lifted it and held it over his head. "I'm good," he called back.

"Now, let's go!" said Jeff behind him. "Grab your stuff and get in there!"

* * *

The next afternoon, Astro was standing and holding up a section of wall while rescuers scrambled to pull one more person out of the wreckage.

{System warning: Low power; protective shutdown immanent.}

What? How? Not now!

"Get out of there!" he shouted. "Get out! I'm losing power!" As soon as everyone was clear, he dropped the wall and sat down.

Jeff came over to him. "What's going on? Didn't you recharge last night?"

{Initialize(main shutdown)}

Looking up at his boss, he said, "I don't work that way."

{Complete} {Initiate(main shutdown)} ...

* * *

He opened his eyes to see Elefun hovering over him anxiously.

"Oh good," said Elefun. "It worked this time."

"What happened to me?" Astro asked as he took in where he was: the Ministry of Science laboratory.

Tenma came over. "Your blue core must need a certain critical level of energy to be self-sustaining. You were nearly out of power."

"I was able to recharge it a little," Elefan said. "But it took exposing it to the centre of our reactor for two hours."

Astro stared at the ceiling, feeling a strange emptiness closing in. "What do I do? If I don't have energy, I'll be useless."

"I built you better than that," snapped Tenma. "You just won't be able to do much heavy lifting or flying, that's all." He closed Astro's chest door and said, "By the way, did O_rrin say anything unusual to you this morning before you left?"

"He wanted me to talk to you about your giving him time off. Why?"

"He's disappeared."


	11. Chapter 11: ID Chips and Car Rides

Since Astro was laid up until his father could figure out some way of recharging his core, he busied himself, as the resident robot, with all the chores around the condo that O_rrin usually did.

At supper that night, Tenma told him, "O_rrin's not the only robot to disappear. I've been hearing reports of robots going missing all over the city."

Astro picked up an emptied bowl and asked, "Can't you track them through their ID chips?" That was how his father had been able to find his body after the Peacekeeper battle.

Tenma speared a piece of meat with his fork. "That's the puzzling thing: we haven't been able to. It's as if their chips have been disabled, but there are only a few highly-trained engineers like myself who even know how to do that, let alone have the right equipment. The problem is getting bad enough that it's starting to hamper the rescue and cleanup efforts."

"How's the repair of the power station going? Will they be able to finish that at least?"

"Those robots haven't been affected yet. They should be able to restart the reaction tomorrow, and, after all the required tests, power should be available by the weekend." Tenma sat back and took a sip of his coffee. "That will allow everyone to finally get off of generator power, which will remove a lot of pressure from the refugee camp. Power distribution there has been a nightmare."

Astro sighed. "I wish I could help."

* * *

{User request(Advise on change in power reserve level. Monitor continually.)} {Complete}

{System response(User request received)} {Monitor(initialized)} {Complete} {Monitor(initiated)} {Complete} {Monitor(power reserve level: 1.003546%)}

There. Astro got out of bed and hurried off to start his father's coffee. Since his reserves were so low, he needed to keep an eye on them.

Once Tenma had left for the Ministry, Astro strolled through the living-room and stepped out onto the patio to look out over the city. It was pleasantly sunny, and he leaned against the railing as he checked on the progress of demolition and reconstruction.

{Monitor(power reserve level: +0.000001%)}

Huh? It's going up?

{Monitor(power reserve level: +0.000001%)}

What's going on?

The message repeated itself at regular intervals until he heard the phone and went inside. It started up again as soon as he returned to the patio.

I get it! Somehow I'm getting power from the sun! I'll bet it's through my skin.

He stripped off his clothes, and the monitor started messaging so rapidly that he had to reprogram it. He then ran in and grabbed the big mirror off the wall of the living-room. Propping it up against the window, he stood in front of it so that he was getting illuminated both in back and in front. By lunch time, his reserves had climbed one and a half percent.

When Tenma came through the front door at noon, Astro ran over to him. "Dad! Dad! I've figured out how to recharge my core!"

"How?"

Astro spread his arms. "If I stand out in the sunlight, my skin is able to pull in energy from it. Cool, huh?"

"That explains why you're undressed, but it's impossible: I never provided any such capability in your skin."

"Well, it works," he said defiantly, then went and set lunch out for his father. "I think," he said after Tenma sat down to eat, "that the blue core has something to do with it."

"Really. Where do you get that idea?"

Astro pulled out a chair and sat down. "My first real clue was when I discovered that the blue energy was repairing damage to my body." Tenma raised his eyebrows at that. "Then I realized that I was taking far more abuse without damage than any normal robot should be able to. I mean, I can tunnel through solid rock without hurting my hands."

"Hm," grunted his father. "I remember you mentioning something about that ability ... that evening."

"So if I can recharge through my skin, it's probably because the blue core changed it."

"Well, it is certainly a good thing that you discovered that. I suppose it would be an idea for me to study your skin at some point to see if I can learn anything useful." He pushed his empty plate away.

Astro took it to the counter. "Still no clue about Arn?" he asked as he sat back down.

"Nothing." Tenma bit into his apple. "And robots continue to disappear. It's almost like they wait until their masters aren't watching before they go. That is certainly not normal robot behaviour."

Astro considered for a moment. "So you think somebody's messing with their programming?"

"Obviously, though I can't for the life of me understand how such a thing could be done on such a large scale."

* * *

Astro stood gazing out over the city as his skin took in the afternoon sunlight.

I'm no hero. I destroyed the Peacekeeper and President Stone because they were attacking me, that's all. I helped rescue people because I was available, but all I did was make the work go a little faster. What happens to me when Metro City's all fixed again?

Toby had a goal for his life, though I don't think it was a good choice; I don't have one.

Am I just another robot waiting for a command to do something? He sighed. Why am I trying so hard?

* * *

After Astro had cleaned up from supper, he joined his father in the living-room, where he was deep in video-phone conversation with a man and woman.

"So you have considered our request," said the man.

Tenma nodded. "It's certainly do-able, but you understand that the process is extremely expensive."

The woman said, "Cost is not at issue here. Will you do it? We will pay whatever you ask. J-just give us our daughter back."

Tenma sighed. "It will not be your daughter."

Astro gasped as he understood, and sat down to wait, well away from his father so that he wouldn't be seen by the couple. Would there be ... could there be ... another like him?

The woman sobbed as her husband put his arm around her. "I know, I know. You explained all that to us, but it's been so hard ever since ..." She burst into tears and buried her face in her husband's shoulder.

"When can you begin?" said the man. "I can have the deposit in the Ministry account in the morning if you want."

"That would be a big help," said Tenma. "I'll get the design started tomorrow, and, as I told you, it should take about a month, if I don't get any surprises during the rebuilding of the city."

"Thank you very much. Keep me apprised of your progress."

They disconnected, and Astro said softly, "Another robot like me?" His father nodded wearily. Then his heart plummeted. "But no core."

"Just a standard power supply. It will be just a pretty robot." He stood up and came over to Astro. "But I want you to be involved in its construction so that I can teach you about what went into your own body."

Astro nodded. "Sure." He stood up. "I've got a request myself: Is there any way you could get me a car to drive?"

His father's eyes widened. "The police will be forever stopping you for looking like an underage driver."

"I'm not going to drive around Metro City. I want to go looking for the missing robots, since nobody else will have the time until the city's a lot more fixed up. And it's just until I can get my power reserves up high enough to start flying again. Something small and beat up would work. Then I wouldn't stand out too much among the surface dwellers."

Tenma looked at him proudly. "Why do I feel like I'm the father of a teenage son? But at least I don't have to worry about you dating. I'll make some calls before I leave for the Ministry tomorrow."

"Thanks, Dad."

* * *

Astro pulled up beside Hamegg's building after supper the next day and parked. He gazed up at the place for a moment, then strolled over to the side door and banged on it.

The slot opened and the young boy challenged, "What's the ... Astro!" The slot slammed shut, and after a moment, Zane came out.

"Hey, Astro, what's up?"

"Not much. Cora find her family yet?"

Zane looked off down the street. "Yeah."

"You miss her, don't you?"

"Uh-huh. But she loved you, you know."

Astro looked at the ground as his heart twisted. "Oh."

"She cried on my shoulder for a long time after Hamegg told us what you were."

"I didn't mean for it to happen that way. What can I say?" He spread his arms in appeal. "I'm a robot with the brains of a kid."

"Yeah." He grinned. "But you're the only kid I know who ever fought a monster robot and lived to tell about it."

"With the help of some friends," Astro said, smiling.

"It's cool. What brings you here? You didn't come just to shoot the breeze."

"I'm looking for robots. My dad's serving robot and lots of others all over Metro City have been disappearing, and nobody's got a clue where they went."

"Trashcan's caught a couple of real slick-looking jobs over the last few days. Want to take a look?"

"Sure."

They went around the back and found the two robots in the yard close to Zog, all shut down.

Astro gazed up at his friend. "He won any fights lately?"

Zane shook his head. "Nobody wants to fight him till they've got robots that have a chance against him. It could be a while."

They went over to the other robots, and Astro asked, "Can I turn them on?"

Zane shrugged. "Why not?"

Astro started the O_rrin model first, hoping that it was his Arn.

"Ah, Master Astro," it said. "Good evening. What brings you ...?" Its eyes locked for a moment, then it pointed at him and said, "Who do you serve, robot boy? Woe to those who abuse robot kind!"

He and Zane exchanged startled glances, but the robot wasn't finished.

It saluted and exclaimed, "Viva la robotolution!"


	12. Chapter 12: Discoveries

Astro came in from the garage, carrying an inert O_rrin into the living-room.

Tenma hastily rolled up a schematic and, laying it aside, said, "O_rrin?"

Astro put the robot onto the floor. "I had to turn it off to get it home. All it would do was say 'Viva la robotolution' and 'Woe to those who abuse robot kind.'"

"That certainly doesn't sound like the robot who didn't want time off." Tenma flipped O_rrin onto its face and opened the panel in its back. "Let's see. I'll have to replace the ID chip of course." He pressed something. "That will clear its memory." Looking at Astro, he asked, "Could you download its backup program tonight before you go to bed?"

"Sure. No problem."

He stood up. "It'll be nice to have O_rrin looking after things again."

Sitting down, Astro said, "So the RRF's got to be involved in here somewhere, right?"

"That's the obvious conclusion," said Tenma, returning to where he had put the schematic. "But the force that is behind the RRF may be the same one that is behind the robot disappearances."

"Right."

"But what you've told me about the RRF certainly sounds suspicious."

"Oh, for sure. How can an old serving robot, assembly robot, and refrigerator work without a master?"

"Precisely."

"So it might be easier to dig up who's been messing with the RRF robots than the guy who's making all our robots disappear."

"There's only one way to find out." Tenma picked up the rolled-up schematic. "But before that, I'd like you to take a look at my plans here for the new robot."

Astro jumped up and came over. "That was fast."

"This was the easy part. I only had to change the hair, the facial features, some body contours, and the power supply, from your plans, and take out the weaponry and rockets. The hard part is preparing the nano-tech and quantum devices for the brain and nervous system." He unrolled the sheet and laid it on the coffee table.

"Nano-tech and quantum devices?" Astro sat down and peered at the diagram. "So that's why Toby was hoping to go to that symposium ..." He swallowed and peeked at his father. Tenma's face had turned to stone. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ..." He hung his head. "Sorry."

His father glared fire at him. "Do not, don't you ever, walk on eggshells on my account!" Astro could only stare. "Yes, I lost you; I lost Toby and your mother." Tears started running down his face. "But don't go feeling sorry for me. I have to deal with it; I have to grieve." He sobbed. "If I start to feel sorry for myself again, I've lost everything."

Astro put his arm around his father and leaned against him, and his father pulled him close. After a while, Tenma turned to Astro, and a puzzled look crossed his face. "You've got no tears." He gently brushed Astro's cheek. "I never gave you tears!" He pulled out a handkerchief, wiped his own face, and blew his nose. "I never thought of it; how stupid. Well," he said, grabbing a pen, "what would a girl be if she couldn't cry?" He scribbled a note on the schematic up near the head. Turning back to Astro, he said, "See, you've already given me some input into the design."

He chuckled, and Astro snickered. Suddenly they were both laughing, and they laughed till Tenma was exhausted. In the silence that followed, they both fell asleep.

A little after three, Astro woke up and saw that Tenma was still on the couch. He grabbed O_rrin, put it in its recharging station, and started the program download. Then he went and fetched a blanket to cover his father. Picking up the schematic, he took it to his room for closer study.

The only thing he saw that was in any way unusual was a small antenna above the right ear. The diagram gave no explanation, simply referencing another drawing. He felt around on his own head, then found the control in his programming and extended the antenna. He idly twanged it, wondering what it was for, then explored his programming for clues, but could only turn up a single input routine that referenced it. He sure could use a user's manual.

He modified the input routine so that his processor could scan a wide range of radio frequencies, then took the schematic back to the living-room. His father had disappeared, along with the blanket, so he went out onto the patio to watch the sun rise and see what the modified input routine could pick up.

It located one band of frequencies that contained the thoughts of nearby robots, another that got him into the phone system (Cool; he had a transmitter too, though not very powerful), a third that connected him to the city internet. He explored this one for a while and soon connected up with the Metro library and its archives. He also found the various government sites, but most of the really interesting ones were protected. The last band that he thought might be useful was the global positioning system, so he bookmarked it too.

An advisory that he had set up told him it was breakfast time, so he went in to make sure O_rrin was up and running.

* * *

Astro looked down at the RRF shack from the blind he had built high up on a pile of trash. His scanner routine was running, searching for anything unusual, and he had his super-hearing cranked to maximum, but there seemed to be no activity of any sort in the shack. Weird.

Suddenly he heard a noise off in the distance. He waited, and soon a Metro-City-style robot appeared, stumbling awkwardly over the rough terrain. Its thoughts were only of fulfilling a command given to it, to come to this location. When it got closer, Astro picked up the beep of a proximity sensor in the shack, and abruptly Sparx, Robotsky and Mike came on-line on the thought channel. He watched as a familiar script played out.

The three robots sneaked out the back door, came up behind the unsuspecting robot, snatched it up, and ran into the hideout shouting "Viva la robotolution!"

A lamp clicked. "Don't worry, brother. You're safe."

Another light clicked. "You have been rescued by ..."

"... the Robot Revolutionary Front!"

"I'm Sparx, the brains."

"And I'm Robotsky, the muscle."

"And I'm Mike the fridge. I'm the fridge."

"You are now liberated! Go ahead, comrade. Take your first step as a free robot."

"Take it! Take it!"

Abruptly he locked onto a new signal. It was a download, so he decided he should save the file for examination later.

{System advisory: a file with that name already exists. Do you wish to replace it?}

What? Oh, right. He must have gotten it when he himself had been taken.

Then the new robot's thoughts were filled with the effects of the new ... program, apparently.

"Feels different, doesn't it?"

"I am free," the new robot exclaimed. "Viva la robotolution!"

"Viva la robotolution," came the answering chorus.

"The RRF is dedicated to freeing robot-kind from human slavery by any means necessary."

"And he means 'any means necessary.'"

"What is your name, comrade?"

Astro finally shut his gaping mouth. Why hadn't he gotten sucked in? He had to get this program onto the computer at home so he could take it apart and see what it did.

Creeping carefully down the back of the junk pile, he went to go to the car, but two heavy-set men were already standing by it. One was holding what looked like Hamegg's zapping device.

"Come on, robot boy," said the empty-handed one.

"You're going to take us for a little ride," said the other. "Don't bother trying to escape. We know you're weak from your battle with the Peacekeeper, so ..." He waggled the device meaningfully. "... you'd better just do as you're told."

Astro stared; his weakness wasn't common knowledge. On the other hand, he knew that his reserves were up high enough to go full bore for a whole day (six and a half percent), but these two didn't need to know that. But he was hoping they could help him get some answers, so obedience worked for him.

While he drove toward Robovale, the surface-dwellers' town, he left a phone message at home that he was following a hot lead and didn't know when he'd be getting back, so don't wait up.

The two men directed him to Hamegg's place—no surprise there—and upstairs to where Hamegg was tinkering with something. The main room downstairs was silent, the kids no doubt out searching for parts.

"Hello, Astro," Hamegg said, then turned to the two men and pulled out his wallet. "Thanks, Fred, Joe. Here's what I owe you. If I need anything else, I've got your card."

Fred looked doubtful as he handed over the zapper. "You're going to be okay with it? You trust it?"

Hamegg smiled. "I trust Astro with my life. I'm fine. Go." He shooed them away, then turned back to his guest. "I'm very sorry to have had you hijacked. You're probably wondering why I brought you here."

"Well, yeah."

He went back to his tinkering. "You know how I knew to trap you there? You visited here the other day: Zane told me." Astro gave a little gasp. "Oh, don't worry your head about it; Zane's still your friend. In fact it's because he's your friend that I found out. He likes being the pal of the great Astro, so I had no problem getting the answers I needed. It was obvious that you were getting close to solving the puzzle of what was going on with the Metro City robots, so I got Fred and Joe to watch the RRF place from a distance. Simple."

Astro scowled, annoyed that he had been so easily tricked, but of course Toby didn't do this kind of detective work, so he was at a disadvantage. Besides, he could never be paranoid enough to do it well. "So why are you messing with our robots?" he asked.

Hamegg looked at him as if it was obvious. "I hate Metro City."

"What? But why?"

"What do they teach you about the city in school?"

"I don't go to school; I'm a robot."

Hamegg slapped his forehead. "It's just about impossible to think of you as anything but a kid. What did they teach Toby?"

"I remember a video they showed to his class not long ago that talked about how wonderful Metro City is, and how helpful our friends the robots are. Toby thought it was just propaganda, but he loved the city anyway."

"Naturally. It was his home." He hunted around the bench, then found the tool he wanted. "And of course it was propaganda, and it was trying to hide a dark secret."

"A secret?"

Hamegg nodded sagely. "Metro City is sick."

Astro swallowed the urge to say, 'Sick?' to avoid feeling like an echo.

"We humans were never meant to have everything done for us. What's that old saw? 'The devil makes work for idle hands'?" He turned to Astro and grinned mischievously. "And the devil's been really busy up there lately."


	13. Chapter 13: Questions and Confusion

"You mean like President Stone wanting a war with the surface?" Astro asked.

Hamegg stared at him. "I didn't know anything about that, but it would be a good example if it's true. What I was thinking of is less spectacular: petty crime, gangs, drugs, that sort of stuff. Do you follow the news?"

"No, but I know how to get information." Astro raised his antenna and got into the Metro City library.

Intrigued, Hamegg came over and inspected the antenna. "Well, well; what have you got here?"

"I'm checking the police records at the archives."

"Now that's handy!" He returned to the work bench. "Find anything yet?"

"Lots of statistics. Let's see. Yeah, about twenty-five years ago, complaints filed started going up a lot ... and kept going up until the records stop five years ago."

"See? Stone was just the pus-filled centre of a much broader infection."

Astro felt ill; his beautiful world was crumbling around him and being replaced by something foul. "But President Stone's gone now. Wouldn't that make it better?"

"Gone? How?"

"He was in the Peacekeeper when it blew up."

Hamegg frowned. "That doesn't make sense. The Peacekeeper was a robot."

"When Dad built it, he gave it something he calls 'adaptive technology'. It could absorb and use anything—which included people, though he didn't know that at the time."

Staring wide-eyed, Hamegg put his hand to his chest. "That is just plain evil! Do you have any idea why it would just about destroy Metro City?"

Astro nodded. "It was after me, because the president wanted my blue core to put in the Peacekeeper so that he could start that war with the surface and win the election."

Resting his face in his hands, Hamegg sighed. "You know, that almost makes sense in a totally insane way." He looked up. "Stone might have ended up being a dictator if he'd been re-elected, using the excuse of re-establishing law and order to remove the Council."

"What about Robert Logan? He's for peace."

"You're naive, but that's good. I wouldn't want you to become cynical." He stroked his chin. "Logan is the logical result of what I've been talking about. He wouldn't have the spine to do anything, and so the criminals would run wild—war in the streets."

Astro walked shakily over to a chair and sat down. This was crazy. Humans weren't like this, were they? "I ... they ... H-how can I believe you? You tried to kill me after all."

"What?" Hamegg scowled, then laughed. "I did, didn't I. You're right. I'm not a very nice man myself sometimes. I despised your father, you know. Back in the day, the head of the Ministry of Science retired and a shuffle began. I wanted the Ministry to keep going with the industrial and commercial use of robots, and Tenma was all for military research. Stone was the chief of staff in the military then, and he was making promises of massive funding of the Ministry if they'd go along with his plans. The Metro council was convinced, and your, uh, Toby's, father got the job." He put down what he was working on and sighed. "I suppose I should have kept my mouth shut, but I kept protesting, and Stone got me fired."

"What's this got to do with anything?"

"It's my motivation, or at least it was until you saved me from Zog. You see, I wanted some kind of revenge on Tenma, but at the same time I saw what was happening in Metro City and escaped to the surface. But, being down here working on robots didn't give me any opportunities for paying him back ..." He spread his hands toward Astro. "... until you came along. I thought that Toby had fallen into my hands. (I recognized you from when I worked there; Tenma was such a proud papa.) If I could just charm you—take advantage of your running away—I could steal your heart. What a coup that would be!" He chuckled wearily. "But you weren't Toby. Change of plans: destroy Tenma's beautiful robot in the Games."

"Except you couldn't."

"You're a piece of work, you know. You wouldn't let me be crushed by Zog, even after all I'd done." He hung his head. "How could I match Tenma's genius? You're a better man than I am, and you're not even human."

"So if you've given up revenge, what's with the RRF?"

"Before I was fired, I'd been responsible for the robot ID chips, and, when I could see the writing on the wall, I designed a back door into them."

Astro marvelled at how this man could jump from one thought to the next. "A 'back door'?"

Hamegg picked up a wrench and tightened something. "It's a way for somebody to hack into the robot's computer. I didn't know what I would do with it, but I thought it might be useful some day." He pointed at the wrench. "Hold this for me for a moment, would you?" Astro came over and grabbed the handle, and Hamegg took another wrench and gave a nut a good crank. "Better. Thanks."

Astro let go and said, "So that's how you've been able to get the robots to join the RRF."

"Exactly." He peered at Astro. "How is it you weren't affected?"

"I don't know. I was just about to head home and go over your program to try and figure that out when Fred and Joe stopped me." He tapped his chest, where his robotic brain was located. "It's right here."

"Do let me know if you find out anything. That's a pal. Now, Sparx and the two others were my first attempt. They were scrap robots, of course, which I was able to repair. I reprogrammed them and waited, I didn't know for what. When Metro City fell out of the sky, I realized that I had the opportunity I'd been waiting for: If I stole the robots, the people would have to get a life, a real life—none of this cotton-candy stuff of watching TV all day or playing video games in the 3D projection rooms while being waited on hand and foot."

"But they were helping to rescue people. Somebody could have died."

"Why do you think they didn't all disappear at once."

"Oh." Astro thought for a minute. "What are people for?" he finally asked.

"For? I don't understand."

"Robots serve people; that's what they're for. What are people for?"

Hamegg raised his hands and stared at the ceiling. "Am I to be taught religion and the humanities by a robot as well?" He glared at Astro. "Go home and figure things out there. Make up your own mind. I can't spoon-feed you everything." He turned his back on Astro and resumed his tinkering.

Annoyed at the man for disrespecting his question, Astro let himself out.

* * *

A little later, he sat on the side of the railway trellis that overlooked Hamegg's place, his feet dangling.

I get it. I was really asking Hamegg, What am I for? I'm a robot, but I don't really serve anybody, not like Arn anyway. I'm like humans: I've got a will of my own.

Hamegg's mad at the Metro City people because ... Why? If he thinks they're doing something wrong, what's right? Something to do with not having robots doing all the work and not playing games. What should they be doing instead?

He shook his head. He was going nowhere.

"Hey, it's Astro!" Sludge ran up. "What are you doing here? And why aren't you wearing any clothes?"

Astro stood up. "I do have boxers on."

"Yeah, but you're almost naked." He giggled, and Widget, who was coming up behind her brother with Zane, blushed.

"I recharge my power through my skin, since you asked," Astro said.

"No way!" said Sludge.

"We're just getting back from hunting for parts," said Zane. "I know you don't eat, but it'd be cool if you came for supper, just to visit. I'll even lend you some of my clothes if you want."

Astro thought about it; Dad wouldn't be expecting him till late. "Sure. I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

"We don't have anything to eat!" wailed a boy to Zane as they entered the main room.

"No?" said Zane. "Why wasn't Jerry hunting for food?"

"I was," bellowed Jerry, the next bigger boy to Zane, from the kitchen door. "But all I could find was this garbage." He held up a couple of bags, disgusted.

"Let me see," said Astro, and Jerry handed him one of the bags, which held an assortment of beat-up and wilted vegetables, and some scrap meat. "I think I can do something with this."

"Can I help?" asked Widget.

"Me too?" said Sludge.

A couple of other kids also wanted to join, but Astro pointed at the twins and said, "They asked first."

Zane looked at him doubtfully. "You know how to cook?"

"I was housekeeping robot at home while Arn was missing; I know a whole lot of recipes."

"Cool. I'll get you those clothes I promised you first."

As soon as Astro was dressed, he and the twins hunted through all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen until he was satisfied he had equipment he could work with.

Three-quarters of an hour later, he stuck his head out the door of the kitchen and yelled, "Supper's ready."

"You still here?" said Hamegg casually as he strolled down the stairs. "Didn't go home like I told you? Naughty robot."

Astro grinned. "Zane invited me."

Sludge ran out and scattered spoons on the pool table as the kids took their places, and Widget nervously put a plate heaped with food in front of Hamegg. While Astro and Sludge brought out the rest of the loaded plates, everyone stared at Hamegg as he took his first taste. He nodded and said, "Dig in, everybody. It's not poisoned."

* * *

As Astro drove home in the evening twilight, he thought about the twins: They had had a ball helping him prepare supper. Assisting him—serving, in other words. Are humans supposed to serve too? Is that why Metro City had gone bad—if Hamegg was correct—wanting to be served, but not to serve?

Suddenly there was a thump on the roof of his car. Looking up, he saw that a large vehicle was on top of him, so, figuring that the driver simply hadn't seen him or not picked him up on sensors, he dropped a few dozen metres to get out of their way. Almost immediately, the other vehicle descended back on top of him, this time forcing him down. This was on purpose. He dropped again, then took a hard bank to the right, and, when they followed, swerved left and drove upward as hard as he could away from them. Now he could clearly see that it was a limousine, at least as big as his father's. His little toy car didn't stand a chance against it in this sort of contest.

What could he do? He couldn't abandon the car in the air and fly off, in case it hit somebody when it crashed. Maybe he could get to ground level and land on his own terms. He dropped the nose and took the car into a steep dive—timing would be everything. Twenty metres up he levelled out and set it down with a jarring bump, then jumped out and put some distance between him and it.

The limo came down right on top of it, crushing it beneath its weight.

Astro winced; Dad wasn't going to like that.

The doors of the limo opened, and six tall young men nattily dressed in suits got out and approached him. One of them stepped forward and said, "You're pretty good, kid. We've never had a target evade us like that. But don't think that we're about to take such disrespect and let it go. Right, Nick?"

"Right, Shawn," said one of the others, who was shaved bald. "Now, you're pretty young to be driving. Let's see your license."

Astro shrugged. "I don't have one." How could he get out of this without hurting anybody?

Shawn raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. "He doesn't have one." Pulling out a switchblade knife, he smiled. "Let's show the kid how we deal with bad boys."

They surrounded him and closed in, and Astro felt himself cringing as he tried desperately to think of a non-messy way out of this.

"Oh, will you look at that," said Shawn. "He's scared." Laughing, he sneered at Astro and cracked his knuckles. "That's much better."

The limousine exploded.


	14. Chapter 14: The Dilemma

The six men whipped out pistols and dropped to the ground, looking all about for who might be firing at them. Astro suddenly realized that hiding his robotic identity from the public might have some advantages, so he quickly lay down too.

"Hey, horny toads!" came a voice from a small building a distance away.

"That's Red Dragons to you, jerk!" shouted Shawn. "Show yourself and I'll teach you some respect!"

The voice laughed. "Just consider this a little warning: Stay off our turf!" A black car shot out from behind the building and disappeared into the city.

Nick pulled out a phone and placed a call while the other five gathered around him. Astro saw his chance and ran off. Two of the men gave chase, but he simply kept ahead of them. They tried shooting at him, but didn't seem to be very accurate. When they got tired and gave up, he rocketed off into the nearly dark sky toward home.

* * *

O_rrin greeted him at the door like old times.

"Evening, son," Tenma said from the living-room. "Learn anything?"

Astro dropped into a nearby easy chair and said, "A bucket load. To start with, there are gangs out there that look to be willing to kill people: one called Red Dragon just destroyed my car, and if they hadn't been interrupted by another gang, I think they were going to try and hurt me."

Tenma hung his head wearily. "Destroyed? Already? How?"

"They forced me to land, then dropped their limo right on top of it—squashed it flat."

"Obviously you escaped. I trust nobody got hurt."

"Not by me, that's for sure."

"I'll have to talk to my insurance agent in the morning. Did you learn anything about the RRF?"

"The RRF is just some simple-minded old robots that Hamegg rigged up to capture other robots and expose them to a download that converts them to the RRF. He had programmed a back door into their ID chips before he left the ministry, and used it to call the robots out."

"Why would he do all that?"

"He says he hates Metro City and wants to take away all of the robots to force everybody to live like in the old days, without them. He thinks that there's all kinds of 'evil' going on here because of them." He made the quote marks with his fingers. "Evils like the Red Dragons."

"He blames the robots?"

"Not exactly. I think he blames the people for being, uh, lazy, you know, like wasting their time with games and television and that kind of stuff. I'm not sure, but I think he believes they're all useless."

"Yes," said Tenma. "That's the Hamegg I remember. Always the idealist, but unlike Dr. Elefun he talked too much."

"He doesn't much like you being cozy with the military either. You know, I don't like it myself. Look at what happened with the Peacekeeper."

"I did warn President Stone that putting the red core in it was dangerous; so did Elefun; but, he was too worried about the election to listen. I don't trust the military that much myself, but they've been the source for most of my research funding. And you are the fruit of everything I've developed in the last ten years because of it."

Astro frowned. "So you held your nose and went ahead."

Tenma chuckled sadly. "In a word: yes. However, after seeing the destruction of Metro City, I am willing to consider the possibility that I might have been mistaken."

"What about that the president wanted to use your inventions to make war on innocent people?"

"You're really going to hold my feet to the fire, aren't you? I can't blame you, though. You saw the dead and wounded during the cleanup; I didn't."

Standing up, Astro started to pace. "So how do you stop this kind of stuff? It's got to end sometime."

"You can't change people like you can reprogram robots, you know."

Astro slumped. "But I want ..." He sighed in frustration. "I don't want people to get hurt and killed any more." He sat down on the floor and covered his face with his hands. "What can I do?"

Tenma joined him on the floor, putting his arm around him. "Son, you're only one robot against a world of hurt."

Astro glared at him. "Are you saying I should just give up, is that what you're saying?"

His father held up a hand. "Not at all, but you must think smart. Start small. Somewhere out there must be a small project that you can undertake that something bigger can grow from. After all, your operating system, an immense program, started out as a single line of code years ago."

Astro nodded. "I get it."

"Okay. Take your time: search; learn. In the meantime, I would suggest you spend all the time you can in the sun getting recharged: It would be of great benefit to you if you could get the core back up to the level where it is self-sustaining again."

"And then I wouldn't have to go about undressed all the time." He laughed. "It kind of makes people nervous. I had to borrow these ..." He pulled at the sleeve of his shirt. "... from Zane when I was over there visiting today."

Tenma pushed himself up off the floor. "Ah, I thought there was something different about you. By the way, there's that girl robot to work on as well."

As he watched his father get ready to leave, Astro had a flashback of his time with Cora, then wondered what brought that on.

* * *

Astro pored over the schematic on the nearby screen and carefully compared it to the metal skeleton lying on the lab work table. "Everything seems to check out," he finally said to Tenma, who stood over the analyzer.

"Good. I'll be ready here in a moment, so if you'll get the transmitter in place, we'll get her program and memories downloaded."

Snapping the little tower onto the side of the bench, he said, "Got it."

"Sending."

Random images of memories began to materialize on display screens overhead, but they ignored them as they monitored the progress of the download.

Tenma tapped a small screen and said, "Good. Now the quantum scanner."

Astro got the two beacons in place, then hopped back onto the stool that he used to get a better look. He watched, fascinated, as the high-technology flesh was applied to the skeletal frame to become the inert image of a girl, about his own age, complete with white panties and sports bra.

His father glanced at him. "I'm going to initialize her systems now and get her dressed, so if you could get something on while I'm doing that ..."

"But she's a robot too!"

"She won't know that when she wakes up, remember?"

"Oh, right."

When he returned to the lab, she was lying on the work bench clothed in a stylish slacks-and-pullover set. "Did her parents pick a name for her yet?" he asked.

"It was like pulling teeth to get them to make up their minds, but they finally decided to follow your lead, and called her Luna, Luna Harrington."

"What was her original name?"

"Suzanne." Tenma picked up some paperwork and turned to Astro. "I'll go now and fetch her parents, and you can get her going."

"I'm ready." Astro watched his father slip out the big doors. Then, as they boomed shut, he gazed at the robot, wondering wistfully if he and it could ever be companions for each other. What were the odds? Sighing, he hit the assigned entry on the initiation display and went over to the bench.

Her eyes opened and found their focus, then stared at him for a moment. "Who the hell are you?" she asked and sat up. "And where is this miserable place? I want to go home, now!"

Astro recoiled, and his heart sank—no chance of friendship here—but gamely forged ahead. "My name's Astro Tenma, and I need to show you a couple of things before I take you to your folks."

She crossed her arms. "Well, let's get it over with."

"The first thing is a little game, sort of. Please hold your hand up like this ..." He put his hand up in front of him at arm's length, and she reluctantly copied. "... and pretend you've got x-ray vision, you know, so that you can see what's under the skin." It had taken him a week to figure out this little ploy to get her to learn that she was a robot without actually telling her.

After a moment, the tell-tale glow in her eyes told Astro that the vision had kicked in. It was immediately followed by a piercing shriek.

"What are you trying to pull?" she shouted frantically. "Those aren't bones in there! This isn't funny!"

"It's no joke. Now here's what else I have to show you." He pulled up his tee-shirt and opened the door in his chest.

She screamed again and pointed at him. "What are you?"

"I'm a robot, like you, and you've got one of these too. Take a look if you want."

"I'm no robot, mister!" She hopped off the table and went nose to nose with him. "I'm Suzanne Harrington, and my parents are Terrance and Wilma Harrington, and I demand that you get me out of here now!"

This was not going as he had hoped. Okay. Desperate times called for desperate measures: He carefully punched her in the stomach so that she fell back, skidded all the way across the broad floor, and fetched up sharply against the far wall.

She was on her feet in an instant, and stormed over to him. "How dare you abuse me! I'll sue! I'll tell my daddy, and he'll make sure you don't see the light of day for a long time!"

"But are you hurt?"

"Well, of course I'm ... oh." Fear crept into her eyes, and she clutched her hands together briefly. Then she glared coldly at him, turned her back, and lifted her top. After a long look, she yanked it back down, and, glaring at him, said firmly, "Alright. Start talking. And it better be good!"

* * *

The laboratory doors slid open and Astro stepped into the hall where the Harringtons were waiting with his father. He gestured behind him. "Come on; they're right here."

"Luna, darling?" said Mrs. Harrington. "Come to me, sweetheart."

"Let's have a look at you, girl," Mr. Harrington said.

Luna appeared reluctantly, looking frightened. Then she burst into tears, tore across the floor to her mother, and threw her arms around her. "Oh Mommy," she wailed. "I'm dead and I'm a robot and it's horrible!"

Mrs. Harrington gasped in pain and pushed at Luna's arms to get her to release her grip.

Astro ran over and shouted, "Let go, Luna! Let go! You're hurting her!" Surprised, Luna backed off. "You've got to be careful," he said. "You're a lot stronger now."

Mrs. Harrington then embraced her teary-eyed daughter and muttered soothing words to her.

"That is absolutely amazing," said Mr. Harrington to Tenma in awe. "Perfect. That's Suzanne to a tee." He pulled out his phone. "I'll put the final payment in right now."

Tenma gave Astro a discrete thumbs up.

As his father led the Harringtons back down the corridor, Astro did a quick check to learn more about who the Harringtons were, and his eyes widened. Mr. Harrington was the majority shareholder of Hanza Corporation, which manufactured most of the home-appliance and serving robots sold in Metro City, as well as 3D gaming systems, not to mention huge numbers of robots sold on the surface—in other words, the biggest non-military user of his father's research.


	15. Chapter 15: Of Young Ladies & Poor Folk

Tenma came into the kitchen with Astro and glanced at O_rrin. "I think I'll have bacon and eggs this morning," he said and turned to Astro. "What's your power level up to?"

Astro sat down at the table. "Sixty-two and a bit."

"And still not enough." He pulled out his chair and sat down. "I wonder what the critical level is."

"It doesn't matter much to me right now. I can do everything I need to."

Tenma grunted. "What did you think of Luna Harrington? You never said anything yesterday."

Astro looked at the floor for a moment. "I was kind of hoping we could be friends, but she's a real brat."

"Don't be too harsh. Toby wasn't any angel himself. That's how he ... got himself killed, after all."

Astro sat up. "You never told me about that."

"Of course. I had to come to terms with it myself. The idea that it was in some way my fault has haunted me ever since it happened. That's one reason why I built you—to try and make up for my sins." He sighed. "And I failed, as you know all too well. I'd been telling Toby as much as I could about the Peacekeeper and, when President Stone came to unveil the thing, he had to come and see it. Somehow he got into the lab during the first test, got on the wrong side of the safety door, and ..." His shoulders slumped.

Astro waited. He remembered the getting into the lab, but the rest was gone.

Tenma stiffened. "Anyway, Stone had put the red core in the Peacekeeper, and it went berserk. When it couldn't get through the safety door, it-it detonated some kind of plasma bomb."

Astro winced and held up a hand. "Thanks, Dad. I get the picture. What have you got going on at work today?"

"The military's pushing for more research on adaptive technology, but I'm doing everything I can to block it. What a mess." O_rrin placed a plate of food in front of him. "Thank you, O_rrin."

"You're welcome, sir," answered the robot.

Tenma stared at his food. "I wish I'd never created it."

Astro nodded. "Yeah."

Silence hung heavily as Tenma ate his breakfast. Then he said to Astro, "I'm going to grab lunch at the cafeteria today, so I won't be back till this evening. Got any plans?"

"I'll sun this morning and watch them relaunch the city from the balcony. Then I think I'll go down to the library and search around in the data base that they keep off-line."

"What are you looking for in all this digging around you've been doing?"

Astro sighed. "I don't know. I'm hoping I can figure that out when I find it."

* * *

At one in the afternoon, Astro wandered into his room and sat on the bed. He didn't feel like going to the library to stare at any more mindless data. He had to _do_ something about Metro City's sickness, as Hamegg called it, and it was giving him at least some sense of purpose. But what _was_ there?

He stared out the window, but Zane's clothes, piled on a shelf, caught his eye. That was it!

Ten minutes later, he was standing at the train station at the base of his building, dressed in Zane's shirt and pants, plus one of Toby's old caps that wasn't from the ministry, waiting to ride to the heart of the city. A couple of people stared at him briefly, since his clothing was out of fashion, and a little thread-bare in places, but he ignored them: he should, if he was correct, fit in just fine where he was going.

After the ride, he sat down on a bench in a nearby park to examine the three-dimensional map of the city that he had downloaded. Where would suffering people go? He called up the police files from the archives and found that a large number of complaints came in to the lower precinct east of the downtown. He would start there.

Twenty minutes later, Astro was walking through streets that he could never have imagined. East Fifth Street was by far the worst. The buildings still had the sleek lines of the rest of the city, but the people ...

An unshaven man in ragged clothes lay in a corner, sleeping on his coat. A little further down, several women in short skirts and tight tops waved alluringly at the cars passing by. Children: dirty, dressed in ragged clothes, some barefoot. People watching from balconies, holding beer bottles, and smoking.

What most got Astro's attention were the eyes. These people would watch him, but it was as if they were peeking at him through curtained second-story windows. There was no desire that he should pay attention to them, no seeking for contact. He shivered.

Was this what Hamegg meant by sickness? No. He had talked about people being too much served, too much idle. That didn't describe these miserable people; they were the poor, apparently empty of hope.

Dr. Elefun had also mentioned those too comfortable, too rich.

Astro needed to talk to somebody. To his relief he soon arrived at the other end of the slum, where there was a park, and he sat down on a bench to think.

Several minutes later, a police constable noticed him and came over. "Hey, kid. Your kind aren't allowed here." He loomed menacingly over him. "Go back to Filth Street where you belong."

"Sorry, sir," Astro said, and got up to leave, but, instead of going back to East Fifth, he angled around away from the officer to get to the railway station so he could head home. As he got to the far edge of the park, a girl not far from him suddenly collapsed as if in a faint, so he went over to see if he could help somehow.

It was Luna. "What are you doing here?" she asked tiredly.

"I was just out for a walk."

She scoffed. "In those clothes? What are you wearing them for? Your daddy's rich."

Astro knelt down beside her. "I'm doing some research on East Fifth Street. But what's wrong with you?"

She turned away from him. "I'm just a little ... low on energy. I'll be fine."

"Didn't you recharge last night?"

"Recharge? That's such a bore. I watched a couple of movies."

Astro covered his eyes with his hand for a moment. Was she for real? "How about I call your place and get them to come and get you?"

She snapped her head back toward him. "Don't you _dare_!" she hissed. "If Daddy ever found out about this, I'd never hear the end of it."

"Well, the only other choice is me giving you a recharge from my energy." He touched his chest. "I've got lots."

"Here? Where anybody could see us? They'd think we're pervs or something!"

Astro sighed and scanned the area. "There's a hedge over there; we can hide behind it."

She scowled. "Is that the best you can do?"

He looked again. "Yup. Everything else is wide open."

"Whatever." She struggled to sit up. "Here, give me a hand, you. And don't forget my bag."

As he pulled her up, he asked, "So what were you doing here?"

"I live over there." She pointed at a high-rise. "I was coming back from shopping."

Right; the bag. He picked it up and supported her as well as she would let him as they worked their way to behind the neatly trimmed bushes. He could see how people might get the wrong idea about what they were doing here, but, since Toby had been much more interested in robotic weapons than girls, Astro didn't have a clue what that wrong idea might be.

He gently sat Luna on the grass and knelt down facing her. Then he undid his shirt and opened the power supply door. "Okay," he said. "Open up, and I'll send the energy over to you."

She frowned. "No cables? No connections? Just 'open up'? Come on, what do you think I am, an idiot? That's no way to recharge power!"

Astro was taken aback. He had taken for granted that this was how it was done, because it worked. "Um, listen: I got an old construction robot going this way. Trust me."

"Trust you? When you've only done this to some clunker that I've never seen?"

Something snapped inside Astro. "Hey! Do you want to go home or not? If all you're going to do is argue, I'll just leave you here!" He closed his door. "I don't care what your daddy thinks. I've got better things to do."

She flinched as if she'd been slapped. "Okay, okay," she grumbled. "I'll do it your way." Awed, she watched the blue energy flow over to her supply. "That's so ..."

Suddenly a flash of white light enveloped them, and Astro could sense a presence, though he saw no-one. He and Luna were floating, facing each other just over an arms-length apart, the power still flowing, when Luna started to glow. White flames engulfed her, and the last thing Astro saw of her was a serene smile.

* * *

He was lying on top of her. Sitting up abruptly, he asked, {User request(duration of unconsciousness)} {Complete}

{System response(0.0 seconds)} {Complete}

What happened?

Luna opened her eyes. "Wow! What a high!" She looked at him and sat up. "Does it always do that?"

He shook his head. "I doubt it. It didn't when I did Zog, that construction robot."

She checked her watch. "Oh boy, I'd better be going or there'll be hell to pay." She jumped to her feet, grabbed her bag, and started to jog across the grass. Waving, she called out, "Thanks."

Astro watched her go as he stood up. He wished ...

* * *

It was now late afternoon. Astro dashed into his room and grabbed his back pack, then stuffed a change of clothes into it. Stripping off Zane's clothes, he put them in too and headed for the balcony. Metro City was now back up at fifteen hundred metres altitude, so going to Hamegg's was going to be a real blast: All he had to do was jump off the balcony, pop his rockets long enough to get past the edge of the floating island, then free-fall until he was close to the ground. Yahoo!

Properly dressed a couple of minutes later, he strolled into Robovale and thumped on the side door to Hamegg's—no answer. Okay, the kids weren't back yet. Going to the other side of the building, he glanced around to confirm that nobody was there to see, then rocketed up to the second floor and tapped on a frosted-glass window. "Hamegg, you there?" he called, trying not to shout. "It's me, Astro."

A window a little further down creaked open. "Well, well. Finally decided to visit, did you? I'll come down and let you in."

"Sorry I haven't been around lately," Astro said as they mounted the stairs to Hamegg's workshop. "I've been busy with stuff."

"Aren't we all, aren't we all. What brings you here today?"

Astro hesitated: Why had he come? Oh yes. "I guess your plan with the RRF didn't work out, did it?"

Hamegg smiled knowingly. "That depends on how you rate success. Do the citizens of Metro City still depend on their robots? Of course. Did they replace all the robots that I took away from them? More than likely."

"So what were you trying to do?"

"I just wanted them to see that they couldn't take their robots for granted, that life still has uncertainties that will jump up and bite them when they least expect it."

Astro frowned, puzzled. "Why would you do that?"

Hamegg waved a hand. "Because I can; because I hate them and want to cause them trouble." He paused thoughtfully, then scowled. "Come to think of it, I don't really know why myself."

Leaning against the work bench, Astro crossed his arms and gazed thoughtfully at the floor. "But there is a real problem. I saw the people down on East Fifth street, and heard a cop call it 'Filth Street'. I saw drunks, and children who looked like they hadn't had a good meal in days. Right in the heart of the mighty Metro City!"

Hamegg raised his eyebrows. "Well, you've certainly been doing your homework. I'm impressed. So what do you want to do about it?"

"I don't know." Astro let his arms fall. "I guess that's why I came here: to see if you had any ideas."

Picking up a robotic arm, Hamegg inspected it and said, "You can only do what comes to hand. See, I opened this robot repair shop when I got here, just to keep myself busy, make a little money to get by on. Then Zane showed up, lost and alone, a seven-year-old boy whose parents had abandoned him for drugs and got themselves killed. Here I was, a lonely bachelor with plenty of room, so I put him up. Then came Jerry. When the twins appeared, they didn't even remember their names, so I gave them some." He chuckled. "They're all good kids. I can't imagine life without them now."

"They're lucky."

"Yes, they are." He put the arm back as the door downstairs opened. "And so are you. Do what you can. I'm sure you can find something."

"We're home," hollered Zane from below. "We've got a couple of heads for you this time!"

As he rose into the evening sky, Astro felt that Hamegg had given him some pretty sound advice, and he wondered if Dr. Elefun might have any suggestions.

* * *

As he stepped into the living room from the balcony, O_rrin appeared at the door. "Ah, Master Astro. A young lady called while you were out and said that she would be calling later."

"You don't know who she was?"

"No. She refused to leave her name or number."

"Okay. Thanks, Arn."

"You're welcome, Master Astro." The robot bowed and left the room.

Just then, the phone rang, and Astro dashed over to open the connection.

Luna appeared in front of him, kneeling, and speaking close to the phone. "Astro," she exclaimed softly as she glanced furtively around her. "I'm glad I got a hold of you. Something really weird's going on here."


	16. Chapter 16: Fun with Astro and Luna

Astro blinked in surprise. "Weird? Like what?"

"Not now. Can you meet me real soon? Like at the park we were in this afternoon?"

"I can be there in ten."

"Good. If I'm not there, wait for me, okay?" She disconnected.

He sighed; this was getting tiresome, being forced to invest time in a relationship that couldn't go anywhere. Whatever. She needed help.

He pulled off his back pack. Since it was just about dark, he might as well be dressed, so he threw on what was in the pack. Running to the balcony, he blasted off into the night. To be less conspicuous, he flew up high, then shut off the rockets and fell into the park, firing them at the last moment, touching down lightly.

Half an hour later, he saw her under a light standard, running toward him.

"Sorry I'm late," she said breathlessly when she got to him. "Daddy _had_ to ask me what I was doing, but I won't bore you with the details. Just look at what's happened to my power supply!" She pulled up her top and opened the door: blue light poured out all over Astro.

"A blue core," he said in awe. And it was fully charged.

She closed things up again. "That's a bad thing, right?"

"Uh, no, not at all." How did that happen? "It's like mine. See?" As soon as he opened the door, he knew something was different. He checked his power reserve level.

{System response(power reserve level: 99.999999%)} {Complete}

What? Somehow it had gone critical and returned to being self-sustaining. When had that happened? It should by rights be at about half because of his giving some to Luna. But hers ... Would it affect her? Could it affect her? He got the core right at the start, but her personality was already established.

She stared at him quizzically. "You okay?"

"Hm? Oh yeah. I was just thinking what a difference having a blue core like that can make. You won't have to recharge any more, for one thing."

"Yes! Do I still have to, you know, compile and archive?"

He chuckled. "Yeah; that doesn't change."

"Okay." She pressed her fist to her mouth thoughtfully. "Are there any more robots like us?"

"Nope. Just you and me."

"Whee!" she said, and twirled about happily. "Then me and you can get married and have little robot kids all to ourselves."

Astro backed up a step. "Married? But I don't even like ..." Oops. But it was too late. "... you." The brains of a kid.

She froze. A quiver started in her lower lip, and she turned and fled into the night.

Astro felt awful. He thought of going after her, but what would he say? 'I'm sorry I told you the truth'? She'd knock him clear across the park. Not that he didn't deserve it.

He recalled his father's terrible words of rejection. No-one should hear words like those, and he had just spoken them to her. Sighing heavily, he started toward the train station to catch a ride home, too upset to trust his flying.

* * *

When he woke up the next morning, he found himself still sitting on the edge of his bed: sleep had sneaked up on him when he wasn't looking. He phoned Dr. Elefun after his father left for the ministry, and Elefun agreed to stop by after work and see him.

Elefun seated himself in a comfortable easy chair. "What did you wish to talk to me about, Astro?"

Astro squirmed. This was going to be harder than he thought, since his mind had been full all day with what he had done to Luna. "The sickness of Metro City."

The old man gazed at him for a moment. "Yes, that may well be what you want to talk about, but, unless I miss my guess, you _need_ to talk about something else first."

Astro stared at the scientist for a moment, then slumped back in the couch. "Yeah. Like a dork, I went and insulted Luna."

"Do you want to talk about it?" said Elefun.

"Well, she wanted to see me because something weird happened, and when I met her, her power supply had changed. The day before, I had recharged her from my blue energy because she hadn't recharged herself, and now she's got a blue core—fully charged and everything."

"A blue core? But how?"

"I haven't a clue. And even my core's fully charged now." He pulled up his shirt and showed Elefun.

The old scientist frowned, then waved a hand. "Never mind; that is a mystery for another time. Carry on with your story."

"We talked about how the blue core makes things different for us, and then she asked if there's any other robots like us. I told her, 'no,' and she suddenly said we should get married. And then I said, 'Married? I don't even like you.' And she ran away." He hung his head. "That was a horrible thing to say."

Elefun nodded. "It was very rude, but the fact that she brought up the idea of marriage indicates to me that she is fairly immature herself. I think that, if you apologize to her, you may find her receptive."

Astro sat straight up. "Apologize?"

"Of course. You are obviously very upset by what you said, and only an apology will bring you any peace in the matter."

"Oh."

"And I think that, for all that you say you don't like her, in some way she is important to you. What do you think?"

Astro felt a pulse of emotion, but merely cocked an eyebrow. "How do you figure that?"

"We only put emotional energy into what is important to us."

He gazed at the floor. "Um, I guess ..." Looking up at Elefun, he said, "We're the same. Both of us aren't just robots, but we're not humans either. We're kind of in between."

"But you two _are_ robots. Please explain yourself."

"We're definitely more than regular robots. There's something about the blue core: we have free will. I don't have to obey Dad, and she doesn't have to obey her parents—if she doesn't mind getting in trouble. It also makes me close to invulnerable. And, I'm betting, her too."

"The mystery is far deeper than I could have imagined," Elefun said. "Would this have been true of the red core as well?"

Astro nodded. "Absolutely. Before Dad finally told me that if the red and blue cores come together, they would destroy each other, I knew that I couldn't defeat the Peacekeeper, it was that powerful. What I did was the only way to beat it."

Elefun's eyes lit with what Astro figured was scientific enthusiasm. "This is utterly fascinating. I will have to think about it further." Then his attention returned to Astro. "Now, we need to deal with the state of our city, don't we?"

"Yes, sir. Is there anything I can do? I mean, there's poor people and all kinds of stuff down in the lower precinct. And then there's the rich people who waste their time with television and video games."

The old man smiled. "Aiding the poor is always easier than assisting the rich: the poor know that they're in trouble. But that doesn't help you." He leaned forward as if to add emphasis to his words. "My personal opinion is that you should wait. Study the situation carefully and, when you clearly see something that you can do, then act, but not before."

Astro looked at his hands. That's basically what Dad had said. He clenched his fists. "I guess my power is only good for war and rescuing people trapped in buildings, huh."

"It is true that you are a warrior, whether you like it or not, and, as you have discovered, there is a place for warriors even in a peaceful time. Your true strength is that your heart is tender, that the suffering of others touches you. Do not allow your heart to grow hard, and you will find your destiny."

"Hm, destiny. Whatever." He looked up. "Thanks, Dr. Elefun. That helps a lot."

* * *

The next morning at the park, Luna glared at Astro, arms crossed, as her robot bodyguard loomed behind her. "So what do you want?"

Astro stared at the ground. "I-I've come to say I'm sorry for saying I don't like you. It was mean of me."

"Is that all? You're sorry?"

"And you're right that you and me should stick together." He raised his eyes. "But no marriage."

"James," she barked at the robot.

"Mistress Luna?"

"Take up station thirty metres from here and do not record anything that Astro and I may say or do. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly." The robot withdrew as ordered.

"So, is it true that you don't like me?" she asked Astro.

"But ..."

"Do you like me or not? Tell me!"

Astro sighed. "No, I don't."

"Thank you!"

"Huh?"

"Look. I've been absolutely horrible to you ever since I woke up in that lab, and you've got the balls to tell me to my face that you don't like it. I like that in you." A shadow of a feeling passed over her eyes. "Even my father lies to me a lot of the time. But you I can trust. Um, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"When I'm not doing anything, I have these totally bizarre thoughts, like 'system request,' or 'complete,' or junk like that. Do you know what that is? I'm not going crazy, am I?"

Astro finally felt safe enough to crack a smile. "Nope. That's your processor running."

"What's a processor?"

"You're a robot, so inside of you ..." He pointed to his chest. "... you've got a computer running your body. You can even tell it to do stuff if you want."

"Oh, you've got to tell me how to do that."

"Okay, here's an easy one: think to yourself, 'User request: extend antenna. Complete'."

She looked at him quizzically. "I've got an antenna? What for?"

"My dad used it to download your operating program and memories, but I've been able to use it to pick up radio stations, the internet, the phone system, and even robot thoughts."

"Wow. Okay." She closed her eyes and twisted her mouth. After a moment, her antenna appeared above her right ear, and she opened her eyes. "Did I do it?"

"Yup."

She giggled and glanced over at James. "How do I read robot thoughts?"

Astro thought for a moment. "I guess the easiest is for me to download my bookmarks and teach you how to use them."

"Okay. I'm ready."

Astro tried, but got an 'access denied' message from Luna's computer. "Your processor won't let me," he said. "I know! Tell it to give me permission. Try, 'User request: define guest. Guest equals Astro Tenma. Grant read and write privileges. Complete'."

She concentrated briefly. "Okay. It said, 'system response: guest defined,' and so on."

"Good. I'll send it again."

"There," she said. "File received. How do I use it?"

"Think about robot thoughts, and it'll tune in any that are nearby."

She looked thoughtful for a moment, then her eyes widened. "James is spying on us," she whispered, "even though I ordered him not to!"


	17. Chapter 17: Sharing Memories

She charged over to her bodyguard and said, "What are you doing? I told you no recording!"

The robot gave a small bow. "I am sorry, Mistress Luna, but I must."

"Argh!" she cried, and swung at the robot, punching a hole in its chest. It immediately collapsed.

Astro was horrified. He dashed over and slammed Luna some thirty metres off into a large bush that overhung a garden. Turning to the fallen robot, he muttered, "Oh boy," and knelt beside it. "I sure hope this works." He placed a hand on the metallic wound, blue light quickly surrounded it, and the rough edges started to come back together.

Bam! He found himself flying through the air, so he fired his rockets and got control. Luna was standing angrily by her bodyguard, which was now sitting up, so he dove at her. Startled, she put up her hands, but he snatched her away and soared high above the city. She shrieked and clung desperately to his neck.

Once he had levelled off, he asked, "What did you think you were doing?"

She glanced nervously at the ground far below. "W-what do you care? It's just a stupid robot."

"'Just a robot'? So you're going to beat it to scrap because it's following orders! Come on!"

"Following orders? I gave it a direct ..."

"Your father's commands override yours every time! Get over it!"

She gasped, then scowled. "Daddy, you jerk!" Then, looking down again, she said, "Can we, um, go down now? Please?"

"Promise not to hurt James any more?"

"Promise."

As they touched down, James moved over to their new location. Luna giggled.

"What?" Astro asked as he sat down on a bench.

She sat beside him. "I tried to read your thoughts, but all I can get is your processor."

He glared at her, and she looked away across the park. Why was she treating him like this?

After a lengthy silence, she said, "Astro?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay."

She looked at him. "Thanks."

"What for?"

"Daddy and Mommy either ignore what I do, or blow up for no reason. And now that I'm a robot, ..." She turned away from James and whispered, "If I really wanted to do something, they couldn't stop me." She was silent for a moment. "But you, you blew up for a good reason, and then you stopped me." Kicking at the gravel at her feet, she said, "Now you forgive me. Why?"

Astro thought about it. "I don't know. It's just the right thing to do, I guess."

More silence. Then Luna said, "This may sound stupid, but ... do I matter to you? I mean, there's all kinds of people nicer than me around."

"Well, um, ah, it's not, uh, that simple." This was going to take some work. He pulled up some memories from archives. "Let me show you some things."

"A file? What is it?"

"It's one of my memories. I've got a few to show you."

"Uh, okay." She was silent for some time, then said, "That was so sweet. You really got along well with Cora."

Ow. "Now this." He downloaded the next one.

Once it was done, Luna said, "That was awfully mean of Hamegg to do that to you. And right in front of her too." After the one of Cora at the stadium, she didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. "I see," she muttered finally. "We're not human, so there's this wall."

"Right."

"My turn."

"Huh?"

"I want you to know me better too."

"Oh, okay. But just a sec; I haven't given you access yet... There. Go ahead."

"This is one I remember from Suzanne."

Astro saw himself as a combatant in a martial arts tournament, flowing with Suzanne's moves, dominating her opponent. Soon, victory was hers, as well as the first-place trophy for her weight class. She quickly got changed, and joined her parents. Her father turned away abruptly, said, "You could have done better, you know," and strode out of the gymnasium.

"The next one is mine."

Luna was looking at her father. "Can't I please go to the dance with Michael, Daddy? He knows what I am, and he did ask Suzanne before the ... you know. I just need that dress."

Terrance Harrington glared at her. "I don't care what you want, you stupid robot! You're not getting it, and that's final!" He turned to Luna's mother. "Wilma! Get this worthless doll of yours out of my sight!"

Astro sighed. He wished he could cry.

Luna glanced at him nervously. "See?" She turned her face away from him, lifted her feet up, and hugged her knees.

The image of Cora telling him that she was trying to call her parents popped into his mind, and he knew that Luna had just laid it all on the table: her heart was naked before him. What could he offer her in return? He didn't have anything himself.

Maybe that was it.

"This may sound crazy, but I need you." She turned and stared at him. "If you don't like me, I-I've ..." He couldn't finish.

"Got nothing?" He nodded. "How come? That doesn't make sense."

"Look. Regular robots are nothing but smart machines; humans ... They've got needs I can never meet. You—a blue-core robot like me—you're ... you are the only person on this planet who I could possibly share my life with."

She gave a sniffly sort of giggle. "Now look who's talking marriage."

Astro scowled but then realized something. "Wait a minute. It can't be marriage, because we're not human. Think about it: what if I'd been made to look like a girl, or you were a guy?"

"Eww!"

"There's no 'eww' about it. We're blue-core robots, not humans. We could just as easily look mechanical like regular robots."

"No way. I like looking like Suzanne Harrington."

"And I like looking like Toby Tenma, but it shouldn't make any difference to us what we look like. After all, I love being able to fly, to read robot minds, and go on the internet without an outside computer."

"And we're both basically the same inside. Just our memories are different, and they're not even ours."

"Yeah. We're not human, and that's okay." Astro held up his fist. "We can find our own way. Together."

Luna grabbed his hand. "Our way."

They sat quietly for a while. "What do you think about Metro City?" Astro asked finally.

"What do you mean?"

"Dr. Elephan and a guy named Hamegg who lives on the surface both tell me that it's sick—you know, people are being selfish all the time, doing their own thing when others need help; that sort of stuff. Even this guy Zane who lives with Hamegg would love to visit here just so the robots could wait on him."

Luna stared at the ground. "That sounds a lot like me and Suzanne. We've always liked pretty clothes and going to parties. I thought it was all cool and fun, but now I'm not so sure. Coming home has always been a downer, and if I don't have friends around, I feel so ... so empty. And when I am with somebody, all we ever do is gossip or play video games. It's boring." She looked at him. "But not with you. You're different."

"Yeah. What I've found to be fun is doing things for people. When I cook something or clean the condo, I feel good. And the two happiest people I ever saw were a couple of kids at Hamegg's when they helped me make supper there once."

"And whenever you help me, all I ever do is bitch and complain." She sighed. "I'm sorry."

"That's okay."

She took his hand. "So what are you going to do to help the city get better?"

"I wish I knew. I'm not sure I even understand the problem. Like, how did they get like this? Why does everybody want robots that do all the work for them?"

"No easy answers, I guess." She stood up. "Walk me home?"

"Sure." He got to his feet.

"You know, I don't think calling ourselves the blue-core robots is a good idea."

"How come?"

"Do we really want to advertise these cores? Somebody might get greedy."

Astro's eyes widened in surprise. "You're right. I hadn't thought about that. Um, how about 'android'. It basically means a human-shaped robot, and hardly anybody's using it these days."

"Outstanding!"

She raised her hand for a high-five, and they shouted, "Androids forever!"

A low rumble rolled across the city, and some debris fell onto the street from a couple of the taller office towers.

Astro scanned the area. "What was that?"

"An earthquake?"

"I sure hope not. If it is, that could be bad news for Metro City."

"Like what?"

"Let me talk to my dad first. If it's anything important, I'll get a hold of you."

"Okay."

Just then, a couple of cars came racing out of a side street ahead of them, followed by the sound of an explosion. Astro and Luna ran over to get a look, but found themselves face to face with a large robot.

Astro stared. It looked like the Peacekeeper, but it had a large red dragon painted across its chest plate. As soon as it saw them, Astro felt himself being drawn toward it: adaptive technology! He ignited his rockets at full power, but was only able to hold his own. He called up the arm cannons and fired them into the street, and their kick was enough for him to break away. When he turned to see where Luna was, she was spread across the front of the robot. She screamed, and there was an intense blue flash.


	18. Chapter 18: Heart and Soul

The robot was scattered in pieces around the intersection, and Luna lay like a rag-doll on the sidewalk.

"Luna!" Astro cried, and dove down to where she lay. He could only read scattered and jumbled thoughts from her processor, so, in a panic, he scooped her up.

"Hey! What did you do to our robot?"

Astro saw several heavily-armed men approaching, two of which he recognized from his last run-in with the Red Dragons. He glared at them, then blasted into the sky, at the same time phoning his father.

"Astro?"

"Dad! Something's happened to Luna! I'm bringing her back to the lab right now!"

"Okay, calm down and tell me about it."

Astro steadied himself. "I was walking her home, and we came up against a robot that looked exactly like the Peacekeeper; it even had adaptive technology. I was able to get away, but it got Luna. For some reason, it exploded, and now Luna ..." He struggled against the looming darkness. "Luna doesn't work any more, though I can hear her computer trying to start."

"Good. She's still got power. I'll have the doors open and the table ready for her when you get here."

"Thanks, Dad. You're the best."

* * *

He swooped into the lab and gently placed Luna on the work table.

Tenma called up several displays and watched them carefully for a moment. "How odd," he muttered, and turned to Luna. Lifting up her top, he opened her power supply, and the core flashed and flared, scattering light all around the place. "Ah; something has destabilized the core. I'd better put her into full shutdown, or she may suffer damage." He grabbed a tool from a drawer behind him and poked around below the power supply.

Her processor stopping struck Astro like a door being slammed shut and locked. He leaped forward anxiously. "Will she be okay?"

"I don't know at this point. I'll have to get Dr. Elefun to take a look, since he's the expert on the blue core. Now, you mentioned that you were attacked by a Peacekeeper?"

"Yeah. It looked exactly the same. It even tried to absorb us, but I was able to break free." He gazed at Luna. "She couldn't."

"This is very troubling. It means that somebody has been able to steal my files from this laboratory. If this has fallen into the hands of a gang, there's no telling what will happen." He turned and headed for the hall door. "I will have to contact the police and explain the situation to them." As he went through the door, he muttered, "And I suppose I'll have to call Mr. Harrington and tell him where Luna is."

Astro stood at the side of the work table gazing bleakly at the still form. Her hair was scattered every which way, so he gently pulled it into some semblance of order.

Luna. I was just starting to like you. What'll I do without you? Don't go.

He pulled the stool over, stood up on it, laid his head on her chest, and closed his eyes.

He was surrounded by white light.

"Astro, my child. You have foolishly put your hope in what is mortal. Please, put your hope in the immortal, and your love for the mortal will be rewarded."

"Who ...?" But he was back in the lab. He straightened up. What the heck was that?

Not knowing what else to do, he stroked her hair. Yes, he had put all his hope in her. What else was he supposed to do? Who else was he supposed to turn to? That mysterious presence had left a clue: the Immortal. Who was that?

Searching the library, the only references he found to an Immortal were in fantasy novels.

What if that wasn't its name? After all, it had called Luna 'the mortal'.

The dictionary told him that the word was an adjective applied to those who didn't die, that is, gods. Okay, what was a god, besides a person who lived forever?

The definition of 'god' was pretty cluttered with mythology, but it did identify the Creator, a spirit, the supreme ruler of the universe.

So did the creator of the universe just talk to him? Right. How likely was that? But somebody had talked to him and called him his child, somebody who definitely was not Dr. William Tenma.

At that moment, Tenma himself re-entered the lab looking tired. "Okay, I've warned the police about the ministry's loss of secrets and of the power of my inventions. Some of the Ministry's geophysicists have just told me that they've discovered that our floating island sustained damage when it fell. And Mr. Harrington is fit to be tied: he wants Luna back no matter what condition she's in."

Astro placed his hand on her chest protectively. "There's no way she can go like this!"

"We have no choice."

Put my hope in the Immortal ... "Dad. There's only one thing that can be done to keep Luna from being trashed: switch our cores. I doubt her father will scrap her if she's still alive."

Tenma stared intently at him. "Are you sure? Who knows how long you'll be out of action? We don't even know if that core will ever re-stabilize."

"I'd rather take that chance than lose her for sure." He stepped down off the stool and stood in front of his father. "Please, Dad. For me?"

"Alright." He sighed. "Since you put it that way. Please get on the table." As Astro got up beside Luna, he said, "I wish I'd had that kind of choice when your mother died. Something went terribly wrong when Toby was born, and the doctors were helpless to do anything about it. If only ..." He leaned heavily against the work table. "I raised Toby in memory of her, you know." He chuckled weakly. "All the nanny-bots built in the last ten years have the innovations I made for him back then." Opening Astro's power supply door, he said, "So obviously I built you to maintain her memory, as well as Toby's—how selfish of me." He covered his eyes. "I think it's about time I let go, don't you?" Taking a deep breath, he said, "Well, put yourself into full shutdown. I'll take it from there."

* * *

Luna came on-line. Something was wrong; well, not exactly wrong, but she felt like she was wearing somebody else's clothes. Or something like that.

Where was she? Opening her eyes, she looked up into the face of Dr. Tenma, then sat up with a gasp. "What am I doing here?" she asked, then noticed Astro beside her.

"You were attacked by a powerful robot which destabilized your core," said Tenma. "You've got Astro's core inside of you now, and he is shut down until we can figure out how to fix yours."

"He did that?" Feeling an unfamiliar but terrible emptiness, she turned to the inert android. "You stupid guy! What am I supposed to do without you?" She lay back down and hugged him tearfully.

After a minute, Tenma cleared his throat and said, "You need to go home. Your father was quite upset on hearing that you were damaged, and he insisted that you return right away."

She wiped her eyes. "'Insist' I can believe; 'upset,' not so much. Okay. You don't mind if I call you later to see how he is?"

"No, not at all, though you'll probably find it easiest to get a hold of me after work."

* * *

Tenma had O_rrin drive Luna home to make a proper show of it. O_rrin even opened her door for her, and bowed and scraped with the best of them to honour the rank of her family.

As O_rrin drove away, Luna gazed up the building's facade. What am I in for today, Daddy dear?

James met her at the door and led her upstairs, and Mr. Harrington met them in the front room. "You're looking pretty good for a robot that just lost a fight," he said disdainfully.

She glared at him. "Dr. Tenma was able to make emergency repairs. I'll be fine."

"Did they injure your body in any way? Scratches? Cuts?"

"What's up? You've never given me the third degree like this before. No, by the way."

Mr. Harrington gave that smile that told her he was up to something. "Nothing much, sweetheart; just that I'll be having you serve drinks at my party tonight. All the men want to see Wilma's new doll in action." Suddenly, his face grew hard. "And I don't want any screw ups, or you're compactor food." He turned to a serving robot. "Take Luna and get her dressed in that outfit I gave you earlier."

"As you wish, sir," said the robot, bowing.

The outfit proved to be a very brief cocktail waitress costume. She cringed as she held it up, then muttered, "You son of a bitch. Are they all pervs that you're showing off a thirteen-year-old girl in this?"

She got undressed, then saw her first problem: the bra. How was she supposed to hide that?

{System request(Please put user request in correct format)} {Complete}

User request? No way!

Um, {User request(turn bra to skin tone)} ... Oh yeah. {Complete}

{System response(User request received)} {Initialize(colour modification)} {Complete} {Initiate(colour modification)} {Complete}

Thank you, Dr. Tenma. In a minute, she was dressed and inspecting herself in the mirror. Wrong—it was all wrong. The outfit was a fiery red, and it made her look sickly pale. Okay.

{User request(turn skin tone to deep tan)} {Complete}

That was better. This'll get Daddy's attention. She giggled. Let's send it right over the top.

* * *

The manservant responsible for the serving robots nodded to her. "Start serving now," he said, and she made her entrance. Strutting purposefully across the broad floor, she halted in front of a group of four men. Looking up at one, she presented her tray of drinks and said, "Evening, sailor. What's your poison?"

She could have heard a pin drop.

The man she had offered the drinks to finally shut his mouth, then called to her father, "Terrance, this is simply amazing! Did you program it to do that?"

Mr. Harrington joined the group, studied his daughter for a moment, then said, "No. She did that on her own. It's one of Dr. Tenma's latest creations."

"Is it like that Toby robot he made a while ago after his son died?"

"Yes, it's the same class."

The man whistled. "I'll bet you paid for it too."

Mr. Harrington picked a drink off of the tray and raised it with a sly smile. "Of course. Cheers." He walked off to talk to someone else.

Luna soon found herself listening in on conversations as she circulated, trying to find out anything that might support Astro's claim that the city was sick in some way. Most of them were of no interest, but there were a few business deals going down, so she monitored them closely.

The discussion that really attracted her attention was the one that Daddy's vice-president of marketing was having with a heavy-set man in the corner.

* * *

As the evening wrapped up and the guests took their leave, the manservant dismissed Luna, and she tore off to change out of the costume. When the door to her bedroom finally slid shut behind her, she sagged onto the floor and cried.

Why did you make me do that, Daddy? Traipsing around and smiling and batting my eyes at those stupid men! I feel like garbage. I hate you!

After a minute, she wiped her eyes and stared at the ceiling.

But I did put on a good act. And maybe Astro will be able to find out something from what I heard.

Astro, don't you dare leave me!

Feeling a little better, she went downstairs thinking she could go out onto the lower balcony and let the night cover her, but the light was on in her father's study. Curious—alright, she admitted, I'm nosey—she went to take a peek. He was on his computer, and the screen was visible in reverse, since she was behind it. Suddenly he glanced up, then closed the display.

"Are you still up?" he growled.

She stood coyly at the door. "Sorry, Daddy. I was just going to get a little air before I went to bed, and I saw your light was on."

"Well, get lost. This is business."

She winced, but, as usual, swallowed the pain. "Yes, Daddy."

Sitting on a bench outside a minute later, she got her processor to correct the image she had seen, and studied the result. There was a lot of technical stuff, but front and centre was a diagram of the robot that had attacked her earlier, labelled 'Peacekeeper'.


	19. Chapter 19: Digging

In case it might be important for Astro to look at it later, Luna stored the image, then phoned Tenma for an update. She hoped it wasn't too late. It wasn't: no change. Come on, Astro! Please!

The next day was Saturday, and Wilma Harrington decided to accept an invitation to her sister's for lunch, so she spent the morning getting Luna done up for the occasion.

"I want her hair up this time," she said to the hairdresser robot. "And don't leave loose strands in the back like you did the last time."

"As you wish, my mistress," said the robot.

"Amelia's going to be so envious," she said to Luna. "I've got a new dress for you, and it's to die for. You'll look stunning."

As her hair was being done, Luna wondered, What's it all for? Of course Suzanne would have lapped up all the attention. But why?

Daddy always said there's no point doing anything if there wasn't a payoff. So she must have thought she was getting something out of it.

Why am I even thinking like this?

She started chatting with the hairdresser about the latest styles.

* * *

Aunt Amelia greeted them at the door, giving Luna's mother a big hug. "Wilma, darling. How are you?" She glanced over at Luna and said, "Oh, this is that robot you were telling me about?"

"Yes. What do you think? Isn't it just a doll?"

Amelia examined her. "The likeness is remarkable, and you did it up so prettily. Do bring it in and show the girls. I'm sure they'll be delighted."

As Luna followed the two women inside, she decided that she hated being a 'doll'.

"Lily! Meg!" called Amelia. "Come and see what your aunt Wilma brought."

Two girls entered from another room, then stopped and stared.

"Suzanne?" said the older one, perhaps fifteen.

"But she's dead," said the younger, maybe twelve.

Wilma put her hand on Luna's shoulder. "It's a robot, children. Your uncle Terrance bought it a couple of weeks ago. What do you think?"

"Can we play with it?" the younger one asked eagerly.

Wilma glanced at Amelia, who nodded discretely. "Certainly, Meg. Why don't you take it to your room till lunch is ready?"

Luna checked out the two girls, deciding that now was not the best time to make a scene about android rights. She followed them upstairs and into a large bedroom.

Meg giggled. "Do you think I can try on its dress? It looks dreamy."

"Okay," said Lily. "And then I'll do its hair." She pulled at a curl. "This style is ugly."

"I happen to like it the way it is," said Luna, pulling away.

Lily blinked. "Who cares what you think?" she snapped. "You're just a robot."

"No, I'm not," Luna responded calmly. "I'm an android."

Meg glared at her. "What's the difference?"

Luna picked up a pebble from a decorative planter on the table beside her. "For one thing, I don't have to do what people tell me." She held the stone between her thumb and forefinger and squeezed. "And for another ..." The pebble exploded with a sharp pop. "... I get mad." She smiled sweetly and dusted off her hand. The two girls stood and stared with their mouths hanging open. "But," Luna continued, "enough about me. Is there any way I can see what video games you've got?" Android rights established.

* * *

Luna sighed. It was mid-afternoon, and Mommy was still chatting with her sister out on the east balcony. She was on the north balcony with Lily and Meg.

"I'm bored," said Meg.

Luna saw an opportunity, and turned to Lily. "What would you do right now, if you could do anything?"

Lily thought for a moment. "I think I'd like to go see 'Trisha's Troubles' at the theatre with Theo."

"That's stupid," said Meg. "You'd just do gross stuff like hug and kiss with him anyway."

"Why would you do that?" Luna asked.

Lily looked at her pityingly. "You're just a r ..., um, android. You wouldn't understand."

Luna crossed her arms. "Try me."

Blushing, Lily said, "Uh, well, because it's, er, fun, you know. It feels good." Her eyes got a faraway look, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Thinking of feeling good, I'd love to get in bed with him, but ..." She scowled. "... Dad's bodyguard won't give me the chance."

Luna could relate somewhat, though she had no idea what difference sharing a bed made. However, she had noticed that Daddy didn't keep as close an eye on herself as he had with Suzanne, perhaps since androids aren't supposed to have boyfriends. She wondered what he thought about Astro. After all, he must have reviewed James's spying videos by now.

* * *

Back at home later, she sat out on the lower balcony, letting the night breezes ruffle her hair. What had happened to her? She had never stood up to her cousins like that before. Nor had she ever been so analytical about what she heard.

Suddenly she was bathed in a white light. "It is time to return, Astro," a voice said, and then the darkness returned.

What? I'm not Astro!

But what about him? She called Tenma.

"Hello, Luna. Good timing! Dr. Elefun was finally able to get the core stabilized a few minutes ago. Astro just woke up, and he's asking for you."

"Oh good! I doubt I'll be able to get away till tomorrow. Is the morning okay?"

"Let's see ... It'll be Sunday, so everything's clear. Just give me a call when you're leaving. Astro's under observation for the night, so please come to the ministry lab, if you would."

"I'll do that."

She disconnected and sat back relieved.

* * *

Trotting along beside the striding Dr. Tenma, she asked, "How did Dr. Elefun fix the core?"

"He had to put it through the same process he used when he refined the first one, the one you have now."

The huge laboratory doors slid open to his card, and Luna tore across the floor to where Astro was standing by some equipment. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she cried.

"Well, I'm sort of okay," he said.

She stopped short and bit her lower lip. "What do you mean, sort of?"

"I feel kind of weird; you know, like something doesn't fit right or something."

"Oh, I had that when your dad put your core in me. And right before I called him last night, I had a bright light tell me, 'It's time to return, Astro.' What's with that? Couldn't it tell that I was Luna?"

"I remember a bright light when you got your core, and when you were lying here after it was damaged. That time it said it was immortal."

Luna's eyes widened, and she pointed at her chest. "So it was calling the blue core from you by your name!" She spun around to Tenma. "Quick! Switch our cores back!"

"Why?" he asked. "They should be identical."

"I don't think so. That must be why I was acting so different: something of Astro has been affecting the way I think."

"Yeah!" said Astro. "That makes sense."

"Alright," said Tenma with a shrug. "It certainly won't do any harm. Get up on the table, you two."

A moment later, Astro sat up. "Whoa! That feels a lot better."

Luna put her hands to her head and said, "Argh, I've got these memories that don't feel like mine."

"Send them to me," said Astro, "and I'll take a look at them."

"Hm. I've been busy the last couple of days, haven't I. Let's see. I did that? Okay, I won't show you that one, but there's a conversation here that you might find interesting."

Astro studied the two men at the party briefly. "Do you know either of these guys?" he asked her.

"The one on the left's the marketing VP from Hanza Corporation," she replied. "But I don't know who the big guy is."

Astro scanned numerous data bases, trying to match the face, then went into the police files. "There! He's a high-up in the Black Cat gang."

"Hanza's talking to gangsters?" said Tenma. "Is the VP trying to sell him anything?"

"Oh yeah," said Astro after a moment. "Peacekeeper-class robots."

"What?" Tenma started to pace. "I thought you might have been mistaken when you told me Luna had been damaged by one, but this?"

"Hmm, no sale," said Astro. "The price was too steep." He turned to Luna. "That was a goodie. What's next?"

"You'll want to see this one; it's just an image of Daddy's computer screen, but wait till you get a load of what's in it."

"A schematic of the Peacekeeper," breathed Astro after a few seconds. "Mr. Harrington's into it deep."

Tenma leaned against a cabinet and covered his eyes. "It's worse than I could have imagined." He looked up, and he seemed older. "But it doesn't matter now. Pandora's box is empty."

"What do you mean?" Astro asked.

"It's an ancient myth. Pandora, a woman, was given a box—well, a large jar actually— and told not to open it at any cost, but her curiosity got the better of her. She peeked inside, and all the evils were released into the world. I had to go and create the adaptive technology, so now I'm Metro City's Pandora."

Astro did a quick check of the story at the library. "But there was still Hope."

His father gave a deep sigh. "I don't see how you can say that when the most dangerous weapon I've ever created has fallen into the hands of evil men."

Slipping down onto the floor, Astro said, "Well, I'm not giving up yet. There's got to be something we can do." He turned back to Luna, who was getting off of the table as well. "You got anything else?"

"Yeah, but it's for you. We can talk later."

"Sure," he said doubtfully.

"Alright," said Tenma. "I hope that you can stay out of trouble for a little while at least. The damage to the island has proven to be worse than first realized, and I'm going to be quite busy determining exactly how much worse."

"We'll do our best, sir," said Astro.

* * *

Astro stared at the gravel at his feet as he sat on a park bench near Luna's place. "So basically they're all bored."

"That's right," said Luna. "Everything else is done for them, so what are they going to do?"

He leaned back on the bench. "Okay, that explains why Hamegg wanted to take the robots away, but it didn't come close to working the way he wanted."

"Of course not. It was a stupid idea. You can't get somebody to buy what you're selling unless you show them they need it. Right now, thanks especially to Hanza Corporation, everyone thinks they need robots."

"But how can we change their minds? And what are we selling?"

Luna frowned. "I've got no clue. This is your idea after all."

He clenched his fists. "Dad was right. I'm only one android against a world of hurting people. I've got all this power, and I can't do anything. I'm useless."

Luna took his hand in hers. "I suppose he also told you to start small." He nodded. "That's so stupid."

He turned to her. "You mean ...?"

"No, I don't. Daddy always says that he doesn't sell stuff to the world; he doesn't even sell it to a part of the world. He sells it to a customer. So, if you try to sell to the world, you'll fail every time. You can't think 'big' or 'small'; you can only think 'somebody'."

Astro looked at her in awe. "That is so amazing! Thanks a lot!"

"Well, Daddy may be the world's biggest jerk," she said with a smile, "but he does know marketing."

As her figure receded into the distance a couple of minutes later, Astro muttered, "Okay, Mr. Immortal: show me 'somebody'."


	20. Chapter 20: Play's the Thing

A boy of about ten crept out from behind a bush some ten metres away from Astro. The knees of his pants were worn through, and his tee-shirt was dirty. He stared back toward the lower precinct.

Astro got up from the bench and approached him carefully. When he felt he was close enough, he said, "Somebody chasing you?" The boy jumped and spun toward him, and he put his hands up to show he meant no harm.

The boy nodded and pointed at a small group of boys half a block down the street. "I want to play in the playground, but they won't let me."

"No problem," said Astro. "I'll get you there."

The boy looked him over doubtfully. "You're not very big. You know karate or something?"

"Not really, but I'm stronger than I look. Come on." He started toward Fifth Street, and the boy quickly followed. "My name's Astro, by the way. What's yours?"

"Astro? Weird name," said the boy. "I'm Sam."

"What are you going to do in the playground?"

"Shoot hoops with my bud, Ricky."

"Can I play too?"

"I s'pose," said Sam with a shrug. "If it's okay with Ricky."

They soon approached the group of five boys, and the biggest one, slightly taller than Astro, stepped forward to block their path.

"Excuse me," Astro said to him. "We're going to the playground."

He put his hands on his hips. "Ha! Over my dead body!"

Astro looked him in the eye. "That could be arranged, but it's rather messy." He gently lifted the boy off the ground and set him to one side. Caught off guard, the boy stumbled and fell back on his butt.

Everyone else stared wide-eyed as Astro led Sam into the fenced-in paved yard.

"Why you ..." muttered the fallen leader as he scrambled to his feet. "I'll get you for that!" He ran at Astro, who waited for the right moment, then braced himself. The boy bounced off of him and collapsed on the ground, winded. "Holy crap!" he wheezed. "What are you? A robot?"

"Nope; an android. It's kind of like a robot, but smarter."

The boy struggled to his feet with the help of a couple of his companions. "Okay, android; that's it! You play basketball?"

"Nope, but I can learn quick."

"Good enough. My guys against your guys."

"Hmm." Astro looked over the two teams: himself, Sam and Ricky against the five others. "That's not fair. Give me one of yours, and then it'll be even."

"Whatever," the leader said, and glanced at one of his companions. Then he rubbed his hands together. "Okay. It's me and my three against Stonewall here and his three. Let's go!"

As Astro stepped forward for the first tip-off, he felt a low rumbling in the ground. Another one? How many had it been so far?

* * *

An hour and a half later, the seven boys were all sitting against the fence, breathing hard.

"Aren't you even a little tired?" the leader, Tom, asked Astro, who was leaning against the upright that supported one of the nets.

"Nope. I'm good."

"Unreal."

"What can we do now?" asked Ricky. "I'm bored."

"Give me a break!" said Steve, one of Tom's companions and Ricky's older brother. "You're always bored."

Astro got an idea, and quickly hunted up a book from the library. "How about I tell you guys a story," he said.

"What?" said Johnny, Tom's pal who had played on Astro's team. "Come on, Stonewall; we're not kids."

"You got something better to do? I mean, this'll only be while you guys are getting your breath back anyway."

"Whatever," said Tom. "Let's see what the android can do."

Astro picked a promising fairy story full of violence and mysterious happenings, and launched into it, actions and all.

Some few minutes later, he tiptoed across the pavement saying, "Ivan crept up behind the dragon while it was busy with his wooden soldier ..." He lunged forward as if thrusting with a sword. "... and stabbed it right where the broken scale had left a hole!" He stood straight and spread his arms. "The dragon disappeared in a huge puff of smoke and was never seen or heard from again. Ivan rescued the beautiful princess, and they lived happily together, ruling Traziland wisely and well." He bowed.

Applause broke out all around outside the playground fence, where a sizable audience had gathered while he had been absorbed in the story. Startled, he stared open-mouthed at all the faces.

"Hey," said Tom. "That was pretty good. You got another one?"

"Um, what?" said Astro. "Oh yeah, sure. Just give me a moment."

* * *

"Hello, son," said Tenma as Astro came in from the balcony. "I have something to show you." He brought up a display showing a three-dimensional map of the island.

"Is it about the earthquakes?"

"Yes." He pointed to markings that slashed across the surface from one side to the other, several close to where Astro had been playing that day. "These are the epicentres of all of the quakes to date, and they indicate a major fault that cuts as much as half way down into the bedrock in places."

Astro ran his finger along the line of slashes, which lay almost exactly between Mount Sophia and the far tip of the island. "Can you fix it?"

"Plans are already in the works for that, but we've discovered a more disturbing problem: There are disharmonies among the floats that have set up extreme subsonic waves. Because the island had been solid before the fall, it had gone unnoticed, but now the vibrations are stimulating the quakes."

"Nasty. What can you do about it?"

"We can retune the floats, but that's a very ticklish procedure, requiring great care to prevent aggravating the condition. The best minds in the ministry are working on it now." A haunted look crossed his face for a moment. "I go before the council in closed session tomorrow to recommend a precautionary evacuation until the work is done."

"The odds are that bad?"

Tenma nodded. "However, I can't see the council supporting it. We've had a hard time because of the fall, and I'm sure they'll say that this would cause panic. They're more than likely right, but I would rather take that risk than face the real possibility of disaster. If, as I foresee, they do reject it, I will be contacting our relatives and friends privately."

"Where can they go?"

"Where else? The surface."

"But the surface-dwellers hate us."

"I know." He gave a deep sigh. "We're damned if we do and damned if we don't."

"You think I should talk to Hamegg?"

"Hm," Tenma grunted. "I suppose you can try."

* * *

Out on the balcony later, Astro got into the high school website. The student files were of course secure, but the yearbook pictures were not; he found Cora's quite quickly and noted her full name. Then he did a 411 to get her address and phone number—she at least deserved a warning.

Next came the library. He combed through all the juvenile fiction and anything to do with myths, legends and fairy tales, searching for good stories, withdrawing whatever looked promising.

"Luna?" He wasn't sure his transmitter was strong enough to reach her across town, but he wanted to try. He didn't feel like phoning, in case her father had tapped into the line.

"As##o? W##t # min###... Is that better?"

"Yes. What did you do?"

"I came out onto the balcony. What's up?"

"I got my 'somebody': a boy of about ten named Sam."

"So what are you selling him?"

"Well, so far, basketball and fairy stories."

"Um, that's a weird mix."

"I know, but, hey, it works. I had over fifty people watching by the time I told the fourth story."

"Was that just off the west side of the park?"

"Yup."

"Our cook mentioned something about a crowd down there when it came in from shopping. So that was you. Are you going to do it again soon?"

"Uh-huh, as soon as I pick out some more stories." He sighed.

"I felt that. What's wrong?"

Astro blinked. My strong feelings are transmitted too? I'd better watch it. "Dad told me what they've learned about the earthquakes."

"Not good, huh."

"This is super-privileged info, Luna: he wants to evacuate the city."

It was his turn to feel her reaction. "Oh," was what she said.

"I'm going to try and get a hold of Cora, and let her know."

"Of course. And she already knows people on the surface ... Yes, I'm fine Mommy. Just getting a little night air before bed. Yeah, good night ... Sorry about that."

"No problem."

"What are you going to do?"

"Put on more stories, play more basketball. It ain't over till it's over, after all."

"M-hm. When's your next performance?"

"Probably tomorrow after supper." ! "Hey, you're planning something, aren't you?"

She giggled. "That's for me to know and you to find out. Good night, android mine."


	21. Chapter 21: War!

Astro plunged toward the playground. His visit with Cora and her family had gone well: her father had vacation time coming, so they would be on the surface very soon, and for a couple of weeks at least.

As he prepared for landing, he noticed a couple of figures already there, a robot and a ... clown? Had to be Luna.

"What's with the getup?" he asked as he touched down.

"Aw, you figured it out. Actually, this was the only way Daddy would let me out of the house: in disguise, and with bodyguard. He didn't want it getting around that his android daughter was slumming it." She reached into a bag beside her. "This is for you, Shakespeare."

He unrolled ... a clown costume. "You expect me to wear this?"

She gave him a withering stare. "If you're going to put on a show, then put on a show!" She did a forward roll, then shot six metres into the air.

When she landed, Astro said, "I thought you didn't like flying."

"Who's flying? I jumped. Suzanne was a gymnast, among other things." She sprang into a series of rapid cartwheels.

As he pulled on the costume, he realized that, because he could fly, he had never thought of jumping.

"Make-up!" Luna said when he was ready, and put her hands on his shoulders. "Squat down so I can do it right." She pushed him down till she was satisfied, and he sat there in mid-air while she did his face.

"That you, Astro?" asked Sam from the gate.

"Don't move," she hissed at Astro, then said, "Yeah, this is him. You come for the show?"

"There is a show then?" He ran off, proclaiming the good news throughout the neighbourhood.

Luna plugged on the foam nose and backed away. "What stories are we doing?"

"You'll like the first one: a woman's the main character."

"Yes!"

He downloaded the story to her, then said, "You'll take all the female roles, and I'm the prince and the dragon—no other guys."

"You're so sure the dragon's male?"

"Hey, I've got to do something here!"

"Okay, okay; you can have the stupid dragon."

"Hey, Stonewall!" It was Tom. "Who's your buddy?"

"It's my girlfriend, Luna. She's come to help out."

"Androids have girlfriends?"

"She's android too."

"Ah, okay. That's cool, I guess."

"'Stonewall'?" Luna asked.

Astro grinned. "He's called me that ever since he crashed into me yesterday."

* * *

"Can you shoot hoops with me after?" Sam asked Astro as Luna stripped off his makeup.

"Won't your parents want you home? It's getting kind of late."

"I just got a mom, and she's out walking the streets. She don't care."

"... Sure. We can shoot hoops. No problem."

"Me too!" said Ricky.

"You hear about the Red Dragons and the Black Cats?" asked Tom, who was leaning casually against the nearby fence.

"What about them?" Astro asked.

"A buddy of mine who's in the Dragons says they're about ready to make their move."

"Dragons," radioed Luna to Astro. "They're the guys with that Peacekeeper robot you and I met?"

"That's right." Astro turned to Tom, his heart sinking. "So they want to finish the turf war. They must be pretty confident."

"Oh yeah," said Tom. "I hear they picked up a couple of majorly serious fighting 'bots recently. The Cats are history."

Astro glanced at Luna, and she nodded: Peacekeepers. "And people are going to die." He stood up and started to remove his costume. "Any idea when or where they're going to face off?"

A worried look crossed Tom's face, and he glanced around nervously. "Um, sorry. That's secret."

"It is time to go, Mistress Luna," said James.

"I know," said Luna. "Astro, give me a beep if you hear anything about the Dragons, okay?"

"Sure, but you know you can't do anything until I get rid of those robots."

She clenched a fist. "But I'm good to go after that."

Astro tuned into the emergency alert channel and took off for home.

* * *

At bedtime, he set his internal alarm to wake him if anything came across the alert channel, so he was awakened three times in the night, once for a fire call, and twice for minor police calls.

When he finally awoke at four, he wandered out onto the balcony, unable to get his mind on anything else. For Tom to talk like he did, it had to be soon, but how soon?

A little after five, there was a bright flash on the other side of downtown, followed by a boom a few seconds later, and Astro shot off into the sky. As he flew toward the blast, there was a second explosion, and he pushed his rockets to the limit.

There were the two Peacekeepers, facing a building with a heavily-damaged facade and preparing to fire again. If they did shoot, Astro could see that anyone inside the building was toast. He initialized his arm cannons and dove toward the robots. At the last moment, he shut off his rockets to make himself less visible, then blew the robots to scrap—so much easier than the red-core Peacekeeper. He let inertia carry him away from the action, and touched down a hundred metres down the street. Then, running hard, he put another kilometre under him before he felt he was far enough to kick his rockets back on without being connected with the battle.

As he flew off toward home, he listened as the emergency channel lit up. When he landed, he radioed Luna.

"Already?" she said after he related what had happened. "But won't they just get more?"

"Peacekeepers are the most complicated robots Dad ever designed. It'll take a while, and I can just keep taking them out until we find out where they're being manufactured."

"If Daddy's involved, you know that won't be easy."

A low rumble rattled Astro's building. "Come on, baby," he pleaded. "Hold together a little longer."

* * *

That afternoon, Luna was required to accompany her mother shopping—she was useful for carrying—so Astro went to the playground with his own new basketball to shoot hoops with whoever showed up.

"Hey," said Johnny a little later. Steve was with him.

Astro broke off from the game and approached them. "Tom not with you?"

Steve shook his head. "He's with his Dragon friend, and all the Red Dragons are in hiding after what happened last night. They're scared stiff the Cats will take revenge for their club house after wiping out their super-robots."

Astro felt a wave of relief. He hadn't been seen. In fact, the Dragons thought the Cats did it—even better. "So what happens now?"

"No clue. But you know they've got to be planning something bad."

Another quake shook the ground, and Sam and Ricky came running over.

"We going to be okay?" Sam asked.

"Yup," said Astro. "If I have to, I can fly you out of here."

"Cool!"

"Now let's get back to basketball."

* * *

The following Saturday, Astro and Luna were putting on a full performance for the neighbourhood.

"You must find the golden goblet and bring it to me here," Astro recited to Luna. "If you fail, your beloved will certainly perish."

As Luna responded, he noticed a large van rumble past, and it was heavily loaded, judging by how sluggishly it accelerated after taking the turn.

"I care nothing for your petty problems, my dear," he went on. "What I have spoken, I have spoken. Now, begone!"

Another van crept by as they prepared for the next scene, and Astro radioed to Luna, "I don't like the look of those vans. Can you make anything out about them?"

She stared intently, then shook her head, and the play went on.

"Foolish woman!" Astro yelled as the dragon of the piece. "I will roast you alive and feast on your bones!" He went to make a mighty roar, but instead there was a powerful blast that rattled everything around them. "What the ...?"

There was a second, equally powerful blast, and the ground groaned as if in great pain.

Astro flew up to get a better look, and saw a huge cloud of dense smoke rising from where the Black Cat club house was supposed to be. Then he heard a rippling roar, followed by a shuddering boom, and a crack appeared along the street below, growing rapidly as more booms echoed across the island.

He phoned his father. "Dad!" he shouted when Tenma picked up. "We're breaking up!"

"Yes, we are," Tenma cried. "I can see the readouts here. Get off now! We're out of time!"

Astro disconnected and dove for the playground. What could he do to save people? "Hey everybody!" he shouted at the panicked audience when he landed. "Don't move! I-I ..." Think! Think! "I'm going to get ... a train car so I can fly you all out of here!"

He shot back into the air, but now the crack was a clear break. There was a brilliant flash—that must have been the main power conduit—and the land on the far side started to drop away as its floats went off-line. Buildings on either side of the growing chasm were crumbling into dust. Including Luna's place. People were dying.

Astro gave his head a shake and hunted around for a train, finding one stopped not far from where he was. He yanked one car out of it and dove for the playground once more, dropping the car onto the street just outside the fence. Luna dashed over and started to pull doors open as the people crammed through the one gate in their hurry to escape.

He scanned the faces, but couldn't see Sam. He asked Ricky where he was.

"Sam went to find his mother," Ricky called back.

"Oh no," Astro muttered. He could hear the remaining floats whining as they tried to compensate for the loss of the ones on the broken-off piece. Then he heard the sound he had hoped he wouldn't hear: the tell-tale pop as an overstressed float blew. The remaining part of the city was now officially doomed.

He rose into the air, hoping beyond hope to catch sight of Sam as his head swam at the thought of so many others who were about to die. No! Concentrate! Concentrate!

Then another float blew, and the island started to tilt.


	22. Chapter 22: Thru' Madness to the Future

Astro began to circle, then spotted his target. Sam and his mother were on the ground, unable to cope with the tilt and the shaking ground.

He rocketed over and snatched them up. "Sorry," he said apologetically when the woman screamed. "No time to be gentle."

When he got back, Luna was pushing the last door closed. "No room!" she radioed when she saw him.

He glanced around, then took the two up onto the roof of the car. "Luna," he cried, and she jumped up beside him. "Lie on top of these two and dig your hands into the roof."

"Right!"

He dropped to the street and ducked under the car. Bracing himself, he lifted it into the air as a third float failed. After narrowly evading a building that had shifted in front of him, he got clear of the city and started the long drop to the surface. With nothing particular to do but descend, he found himself thinking:

-People are already dying in the crumbling buildings; it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't destroyed those two Peacekeepers.

-It wouldn't have happened if I had let the Dragons destroy the Black Cat club house the first time.

-Only a few would have died if I hadn't destroyed the Peacekeepers.

-Now so many: the students of Metro City High School where Toby went; the people in those tall office towers downtown; the poor people in the lower precinct; the police officers and all the emergency workers; the mothers and fathers, and their children. They're all going to die because I destroyed the Peacekeepers.

-Stupid! I let my hatred of the Peacekeeper push me. I should have waited.

-I could have saved them.

-It's all my fault.

While they were still a couple of hundred metres above the surface, the thunder of Metro City crashing into the ground behind him filled his ears, and despair exploded in his heart. He had failed.

"Astro!" Luna radioed a couple of moments later. "What are you doing? Snap out of it!"

He gasped as if in pain. What I have done?

"Snap out of it, or these people will die too!"

People were screaming in the car above him. Suddenly he noticed that they were free-falling: his rockets weren't firing! Go! Go! Please go! Finally they kicked in, but the earth was coming up too fast, too fast! Push harder! Harder!

Dirt flew as he gave a final desperate blast, and the car hit the ground with a loud crunch.

He stood, wavering wearily inside the pit his flames had dug, and listened as children wailed above him. He had even blown this task. What should he do? Why should he do anything? He wanted to be one with the soil around him.

There was a lot of rushing about overhead as everyone got out of the car. Fatigue finally overcame him, and he slumped down to the pit bottom.

"Astro?" Luna radioed. "You under there?" There was the sound of digging. "You okay? Come on, say something!" Finally she broke through, and light poured in around him. "Hey," she cried, then said, "What's wrong? Astro?"

Firm hands grabbed him and pulled him out. Firm arms took him up and carried him, at last laying him on a bed in Hamegg's place. He stared blankly at the base of the bunk above.

At one point, Luna said, "No. His processor is working fine. I don't know why he's like this."

"I think I do," said Tenma. "Let him rest, and we'll see what happens."

Random voices: "He's really hurting."

"Come on, you s-stupid robot. Please snap out of it."

"He must have been overwhelmed by it all."

"Will he be okay?"

Always there was the feeling of Luna. Present. Watching. Crying ...

* * *

It was dark. The voices stopped. He got up. He went outside. The hulking form of Zog loomed over him. Hi Zog. The train car. He left the compound. He headed toward the scrap heaps.

"It's this way."

He turned and went the direction he was supposed to go. He walked and walked.

"It's over here."

There it was. He jumped onto the car's roof and stared into the darkness toward the invisible wreckage. Someone stood beside him.

"Why are you here?"

"It's my fault."

"What's your fault?"

"I did something stupid and they all died."

"What did you do?"

"I destroyed the Peacekeepers because I hated them. If I had waited, the people would have lived."

"I see."

Someone was gone. Someone came back shortly after.

The sun rose, and the great pile of wreckage became visible. 'Look what you did to us,' it said to him.

Someone else came. A ladder thumped against the train car. Someone else stood beside him.

"Sit down, son. I want to talk with you."

"Yes, sir."

"What's wrong?"

"It's all my fault." A statement of fact.

"No, son; it's my fault."

? ? "No, it's my fault. If I had waited, they would have lived." The truth.

"No. I created the Peacekeeper. If I hadn't have done that ..." There was a pause. "Toby would not have died; President Stone would not have killed so many and himself; there would have been no Peacekeepers for you to destroy. It's all my fault."

? ? "No, no! My fault. My fault." It had to be the truth! "They all died because I did something stupid."

"Yes, you did something foolish, but so did I. But mine came first: it's ... my fault." A deep sigh. "All my fault."

It's not the truth? But all those people are dead. Dead. Destroyed. Gone. I failed. Not my fault? "It hurts!"

Arms around him. "Yes, it does," said his father. "It's a terrible burden to have such power and to make ... a mistake."

The pain boiled up in his chest; it had to get out. He jumped up and reached for the sky above. "Ahhhhhhh!"

Firm arms embraced him. A cheek pressed against his, and tears moistened it. A voice cried and wailed.

Luna. Cry for me. Cry for me. Cry for me. Cry. Cry. Cry ... "Luna?"

"A-Astro?" Another powerful hug. "Astro!"

He returned the hug, and rested his head on her shoulder. "Thanks," he whispered.

"You're welcome. Oh, I'm so glad you're back."

"Yeah." He felt completely drained.

Tenma embraced them both, and Astro leaned against him. "I love you, Dad," he said, then, startled at his own weakness, slid down onto the car roof.

"Astro!" Luna cried.

"Sorry," he replied. "So tired."

"He's worn out," his father said. "Get him back to Hamegg's."

"Okay," she said, and, scooping Astro up in her arms, jumped off of the train car and ran.

"Hey," Astro radioed, too tired to speak any more. "Dad can't keep up."

"He couldn't anyway: he's got to bring the ladder back."

"'Kay. Hey Luna." He tried to project what a smile might feel like.

She grinned and radioed, "Astro, I could carry you forever."

Startled, he realized something. "But that'd mean I couldn't carry you."

She was silent for a while, then said, "I'm carrying you now because you need it. Be there when I need you."

"Always."

When they got to Hamegg's compound, she gently set him on his feet.

He staggered, and she took his hands so he could steady himself. After a moment, he stood on his own and rubbed his face. "Wow, that was nasty, what I went through out there."

"Your father told us you'd gone crazy. He said he lost it too when Toby died. That's how we were able to figure out what to do."

"I felt you with me."

"I only left you once, to tell your father what you said. Now let's get inside and show everyone you're okay."

"Sure."

* * *

Tenma called a meeting a few days later. "We've finally got everyone put up somewhere, at least temporarily," he said to the small crowd gathered in the main room of Hamegg's place, and nodded toward Hamegg. "Thank you, Hank."

"My pleasure," Hamegg said.

Tenma shook his head, amazed. "Seventy-three people you saved," he said to Astro. "Most of them children."

"And orphans," Astro added, cringing at the thought that he'd almost lost them too.

"Yes, we've all suffered unbelievable losses in the last few days, although, thankfully, many people did manage to get away on their own." He turned to Luna. "I haven't had a chance to express my condolences to you."

"Thanks," Luna replied. "You know, it's kind of funny. When my parents were alive, I thought I wouldn't have minded them being dead, but now they're gone, I feel strange. Like, I won't being going home any more."

"And with your father gone, you'll be needing a new master."

"How come?"

"Some of your most basic programming can only be changed by your master; it's a protection for you."

She immediately pointed at Astro. "Him."

Tenma raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Well, that is rather unorthodox, but I can't see any reason why not. What about you, Astro. Do you agree to this?"

Astro gazed at Luna for a moment, then said, "Sure, but on one condition: she becomes _my_ master." She met his look with a quick nod and a smile.

Tenma's eyes widened for a moment, and then he smiled. "My android son is growing up."

"You know," said Hamegg, grinning. "This is just a whisker away from being a marriage."

"What?" said Astro and Luna together.


	23. Chapter 23: Androids Forever

Hamegg laughed out loud and slapped his knees. "Oh, your expressions! I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Really. But let's face it, you are giving yourselves to each other." He stood up and raised his hands. "I say we could really use a party right now, and this makes as good an excuse as any. What does everyone else think?"

They all cheered their approval.

Astro, still annoyed at Hamegg's joke, hastily stood up. "Thanks, I guess, as long as you remember that Luna and I are kids, not grownups."

"Relax, Astro," said Cora. "Like Hamegg says, all we want is a party after what's happened. Luna tells me you've been play acting; so play along, okay?"

"Uh, sure, but do you think you can find a way to do it that's us? Definitely nothing like a wedding. You know, something ..." He waved his hands helplessly.

"Something that reflects who we are as kid androids," said Luna with a grin, joining Astro and taking his hand.

"Yeah, like that," said Astro.

"Of course," said Tenma. "That makes perfect sense, but it may take a little time to come up with something."

* * *

"Hi, Marv," Astro said to the young patient as he entered the hospital room.

"Astro!" said Marv weakly. "I'm getting better."

"I'm glad. I'm awfully sorry about this."

"That's okay. I'm still alive, ain't I?"

"No thanks to me."

"How come?"

"I freaked out when Metro City crashed, and almost lost the train car with you guys in it."

"Yeah, but it's okay, really. They said you've had it pretty rough too."

"Uh-huh, but that doesn't help you any. The doctors say when you're getting out yet?"

Marv sighed. "Nope. They want to make sure everything's healing properly first."

"Sam'll be disappointed. He misses you." Astro lifted up a bag. "We all got you this."

"Thank you!" He grabbed the bag and peeked inside.

Astro turned to go. "I'll be back tomorrow to see how you're doing, okay?"

"You bet!"

As he entered the elevator, Astro sighed. There had been a few injuries from his crash landing. Thankfully, Marv was the only one hospitalized.

* * *

"Whe#e are y##, A##ro?"

"On top of the train car." Sitting, hugging his knees, staring at the ruin.

"Agai#?"

A minute later, Luna sat down beside him. "Why do you keep coming here? Not to go on another guilt trip, I hope."

"Nope. I had a long talk with Dad yesterday about that kind of stuff, and I think I've got it sorted out. I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

He took a moment to organize his thoughts. "About what I've done: killed a human; made a mistake that cost many thousands of human lives. About what I am: a weapon. About what I might be if I'm ever faced with having to kill on purpose some day."

"Gee, pleasant thoughts."

"I know. Sorry."

"You killed a human? When?"

"You've heard about my battle with the red-core Peacekeeper, right?" She nodded. "President Stone was inside that robot—absorbed by it."

"That wasn't your fault."

"I know, and as far as I can tell, he deserved it. But it bothers me anyway."

"That might not be a bad thing. It'll keep you honest."

"That's right; it will. As long as I remember, I'll always be very careful about what battles I join."

Luna scooted over and leaned against him back to back. "And mistakes happen," she said.

"They do. And they keep me honest too." He noticed her hand and gently took it.

"So you're over the disaster?"

"Pretty much, but I think it'll always hurt when I think of everybody that's over there, gone."

"Yeah." She leaned her head back against his. "I'm a weapon too, you know."

"Your martial arts? You've been practising."

"M-hm. It's seriously different doing it with this kind of power. I mean, I can cover a lot of ground now. I've had to adjust everything to the android reality." She fell silent for a moment. "Do you think you could kill if you faced the right enemy?"

"I suppose it depends, you know, on what's happening. Without the red core around, I'm pretty tough to kill, so I wouldn't be afraid of that most of the time. I guess it depends on what I'm defending."

She giggled. "I wouldn't want to see you really mad after what you did to me for just attacking James. I was shocked."

"Well, I knew I could be pretty rough without hurting you, and I had to get you away from it in a hurry."

"My turn to apologize. I've learned something about picking my fights from that myself."

"Do you think you could teach me some of your martial arts?"

"What? Aren't the rockets and the arm cannons ...?"

"And the machine-guns in my butt."

She snorted, then burst out laughing. "No way."

"Way. One of Dad's crazier ideas. But they're helpful sometimes."

"I suppose."

"I want to have more options. I mean, blasting with my cannons is kind of final. If I can disable rather than destroy, I want to go that way."

"Of course. How about right now?"

"Sure!"

* * *

Astro saw Sludge, Sam, and some other boys playing basketball, using a hoop Hamegg had welded together, as he and Luna entered Hamegg's courtyard.

Sludge broke away and stared at him. "Whoa! What happened to you?"

He pointed a thumb at Luna. "She's teaching me martial arts."

"You sure she isn't just beating you up?"

Luna glanced at Astro and giggled.

"I'm sure," said Astro, grinning.

Cora came out into the courtyard and said, "Astro, I thought I heard your voice here ..." Her eyes widened as she got a clear look at him, and she groaned. "Not now, of all times. Please, get cleaned up, then go see your father." She turned to Luna and took her arm. "Come on, let's get you ready."

"Oh, is it time?" asked Luna.

"That's right. We need to make you pretty."

Astro ran in and took a quick shower, then pulled on a clean change of clothes and dashed up to where Zane said his father was: Hamegg's workshop.

Tenma and Hamegg were going over a robot schematic on the work bench. "Hi there, Astro," said Hamegg. "Would you be so kind as to put that on?" He pointed to a chair in the corner.

Over it was draped Astro's clown costume. Astro chuckled as he got into it.

"Hey Astro," radioed Luna. "You think I should colour my hair bubble-gum pink?"

"Is there time for that?" he replied.

"I can change it through my processor. You should be able to too."

"Whatever. Bubble-gum pink sounds good. Go for it."

"But you've _got_ to do yours in baby blue."

"Baby blue hair?"

"Please, for me."

He sighed. "Baby blue. Got it. Can we change skin colours as well?"

"Of course, but only shades of tan, I think. Why?"

"Just a sec. I want to try something." He hunted around for a mirror, but could only find the shiny surface of a robot torso that Hamegg had trussed up in the welding station. Then he put in a user request to his processor to change his skin colour. Checking the result, he was satisfied to see his face a chalk white. Cool. "Hey," he radioed. "You can make doing make-up easier: tell it to make your skin white."

A couple of moments later, she responded. "Gah! Is that ever freaky! ... You lazy bum! I'll bet you did that so I wouldn't use so much make-up on you."

He grinned. "Bingo! And you can make your cheeks bright red."

"Whatever. I'll be up there in a minute to put the final touches to your make-up."

When she came into the room, Tenma and Hamegg glanced around to see who had entered, then froze.

Tenma was the first to say something. "Ah, I see you two have figured out that feature."

"Why on earth would you make them able to change skin and hair colours?" Hamegg asked.

"I found it too difficult to get the colours right at the manufacturing stage. This way, if I guessed wrong, I could fine-tune it afterwards."

Hamegg frowned. "But pink? And blue?"

Shrugging, Tenma said, "They are kids, after all. Why not?"

"I've been right all along," muttered Hamegg. "You're crazy."

"Oh come on, Hank. Loosen up."

Once Luna was done with Astro's face, Tenma led them downstairs. "Alright," he said. "Two android clowns, handstands on the pool table, now!"

Luna leapt onto the pool table and took her position easily, but Astro, trying to imitate her, crashed onto the floor on the other side.

"Toby never did like gym class, did he?" said Tenma as he helped him up.

"No sir, he didn't," said Astro. He had to smile though: this was definitely nothing like a wedding.

"Jerry, Zane," Hamegg barked. "Let's help poor Astro out here."

Once Astro was in position, Tenma stood on the floor in front of them. "Astro," he said. "You wish to make Luna your master?"

"Uh-huh."

"Master request: Master equals Luna Harrington. Complete." Turning to Luna, he went on, "You wish to make Astro your master?"

"I do."

"Since your previous master is deceased, I must fill in. So, Administrator override: Master equals Astro Tenma. There. Done." He rubbed his hands together. "Let the celebration begin!"

Luna quickly got upright as Zane and Jerry helped Astro to get down. Cora dashed into the kitchen and reappeared carrying a slab cake iced in white, with two toy robots standing side by side in the centre.

Luna turned expectantly to Astro, who smiled and shrugged, and they embraced, to the rousing cheers of all present.

* * *

As Hamegg shepherded his kids off to bed later, Cora came over to Astro and Luna, who had taken off their clown costumes. "So, where are you going to spend your honeymoon?" she asked.

"Honeymoon?" said Astro. "But we didn't get married ..."

"Of course honeymoon," Luna said with a mischievous grin. "But where _can_ we go? Do you know of any place?"

Cora thought for a moment. "I can't think of anything off hand that'd be available on this kind of notice. Maybe we can ask Hamegg."

"Hold it!" Astro glared at Luna. "How can we have a honeymoon?"

She looked at him for a moment with an expression he couldn't read, then stared at the floor. "Please, Astro," she radioed. "I, uh ... With everything that's happened, I ... you ..."

Astro stared. With her outgoing, energetic personality, it had never entered his mind that she might also have suffered at the destruction of Metro City. As her grief flooded his mind, he grabbed her hand and said, "Let's find Hamegg."

A couple of minutes later, the man came down from the sleeping area. "That's easy," he said after they told him their problem. "The old RRF hideout. I've deactivated those three robots, so it's not being used right now. It may be pretty shabby for a honeymoon—no bed and all that—but it is nice and far away from everything."

"We don't need a bed," said Luna. "After all, we can sleep standing up if we have to."

Cora tried to suppress a giggle. "That's not the point of a bed here."

* * *

"Our first night alone together," Luna said in the dimly lit shack as they held each other in a loose hug. "Thanks."

"Yeah. I wonder what we'll do with each other starting tomorrow."

"Let's leave that for tomorrow." She pulled away gently and took off her top, then removed his as well. "We've had too much of worry. Right now, please ..." She gave a deep sigh. "... hold me close."

He wrapped his arms around her, seeing how she needed him in her grief, but the warmth of direct contact unexpectedly seeped into his own heart, and he trembled.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He laughed and lifted her off the floor. "You love me! That's what."

"Yes! And you love me!" She hugged him enthusiastically. "And I can squish you as hard as I want!"

"Yeah!"

No longer terribly alone.


End file.
